Lost and Found
by LithiumSiege
Summary: Following the events after AOD, Lara and Kurtis find themselves in a race against each other to find an artifact. What they don't know can't hurt them, can it?
1. Chapter 1

**First ever fan fic after reading through so many! Thought I'd start off with a brief recap of what happened to refresh everyone's memories and when I say 'brief', I mean 'ridiculously long'. I will write the next one asap to get the ball rolling. Let me know what you think!**

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><p>The spacious, cavernous room was quiet. Stone statues, a reminder of a time gone by lined the walls. Dust particles floated around, and the heinous stench of blood lingered in the air, ready to hit the nose of those unsuspecting. A myriad of figures stood in the middle of the room, all brandishing a variety of weaponry. In the centre of the group two more figures stood back to back, also bearing their own weapons. One bore two pistols, the other a pistol and what resembled a discus with blades retracting from all sides.<p>

On the ground of the temple lay several bodies scattered about, either bullet ridden or with gashes in their necks from the bladed discus. The two figures in the middle of the group, although battered, bruised and covered in a small quantity of what looked like blood, throw each other a quick glance, almost as if they were silently communicating to one another what they had planned out many hours ago.

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><p><em>11 months ago…<em>

Usually after several fierce battles, any typical human that didn't know what they were getting into would have practically retired from adventuring- after all having to save the world at the cost of ones life would drive oneself to near insanity or death if you were unlucky enough.

Not Lara Croft though.

This adventurous heroine has battled enemies who danger to varying degrees; from Atlantean mutants, animals of all shapes and sizes, to people with malicious intent. Right now however could be considered almost the same. Usually going it alone with the help of her trusty tech geek and butler back home, many adventures alone meant they could easily tailor everything to her requirements. From weaponry to gear and appropriate clothing for the multitudes of differing climates, it seemed like every continent on Earth was her playground. From time to time however, she has had to think on her feet, with varying degrees of success.

So, when everything decides to go pear shaped, they resort to Plan B and this particular situation definitely calls for it. After what could be considered tragic, circumstances in Egypt, hell happens to follow her and those she knows and loves wherever they go. Thus when trouble comes knocking at her one time friend and mentor Werner Von Croy's door, life takes a most surprising turn for one and all. Despite raiding a variety of tombs and desecrating various other sites of archaeological discovery, life in the country's newspapers and magazines haven't bothered her one bit, even though she is looked down on for her 'misbehaviour'.

So when the Monstrum comes by with his calling card, Lara finds herself under suspicion and at the centre of a mystery that dates back years before she was even born. So what is a girl like Lara to do when she is being chased down by the law?

In her own words - leg it.

Her first port of call was to visit a woman named Margot Carvier in Paris and retrieve Werner's notebook, with the result of her having to make a hasty retreat via a window. Hiding out in a disused tram, she ventures out to question all and sundry about a man called Bouchard and his whereabouts. Finally, after walking almost all over, she is finally pointed in the right direction, making her way to a café and speaks to the only member of staff available, who after a few choice words and her patience lost; he gives her a retrieval job. On the way, she notices a suspicious person running out of the alleyway leading to the back of the club, hopping onto his motorcycle and speeding off. Brushing off the odd feeling she got from him, she ventures inside the club, and after half an hour of taking out guards positioned in the club, she finds her prize and makes her way back to the café. After handing the item to the staff member, he points her in the direction of the graveyard and Bouchard's hideout.

Travelling through the rat infested sewers, she eventually finds him and they have a brief, almost unfriendly chat. Concluding that they both need something in return; he tells her that if she delivers some documents to a contact of his, she should be able to get what she needs – weapons. After what seemed like an unfriendly situation involving an older gentleman on her way through the door, she finds the counter area destroyed and behind it, the owner dead. She leaves the documents on the counter and, after rifling through the dead mans pocket for the code to the room housing the guns, she enters, only to find that the door has closed on her and an explosive device is set to go off. Glancing around, she finds her escape – a trap door leading down to a pipe ending near the river. Running like the hounds of hell were at her heels, she dives out and extinguishes the flames that had caught her after the explosion. What she didn't know was that a familiar set of eyes was watching her.

Making her way through the underground, she finds herself in the Louvre. Traversing as stealthily as possible through the museum, she makes her way to Carvier's office, which has similar information that Lara found in Werner's notebook. Finding out all she has to, she helps herself to the archaeological dig taking place underneath the museum. After confronting more guards and gathering more information, she makes her way further on and into a hall with entrances to several areas and a skeletal warrior brandishing a sword and shield. Gaining the necessary painting from a ghostly guardian hours later, she travels back to the museum under siege. Almost near the end she finds her mystery man relieving her in the most interesting way of the painting she worked hard to get her hands on. Giving chase to the stranger, they both make their way to the exit in an alleyway only to be knocked out and, upon waking, finds her newest unnamed acquaintance gone, a dagger left behind and Bouchard helping her up.

She asks him to drive her to Werner's apartment to gather information on the Lux Veritatis, a secret group of warriors whose intention was to bring down a black alchemist called Eckhardt. Unknowingly, she enters the apartment, only to be attacked by a cleaner that had been hired to …ahem… 'clean up' Lara. Fending off her attacker, she answers his phone, only to have Bouchard asking if she has been taken care of – to his disappointment he hears a rather threatening reply. He takes off to Prague, with Lara in pursuit to find out more about a contact that Werner was helping called Vasiley – only to find that he too had been a victim of the Monstrum. After talking to a rather hesitant but informative reporter, she decides to take an unguided tour of Vasiley's property. She finds more information on the engravings and paintings, a cult called the Cabal, a race of hybrids called Nephilim and strangely enough, Bouchard who ends up dead. She goes back to the intrepid reporter who gives her access codes to the Cabal stronghold, he drives her there.

She finds the warehouse heavily guarded, the biological research facility heaving with flora and fauna and the one person she thought she'd never see again – the same person who decided to take the touchy-feely way of silently convincing her that she didn't need the painting. After showing him the dagger he left, he traps her in the airlock until his return, much to her chagrin and goes off to explore the Sanitarium, encountering patients who'd been experimented on and a creature one patient described as the Black Angel.

Coming back to the airlock, not knowing that one experiment followed him back, he finds Lara gone, only for her to drop down from above, kick his gun out of his hand and shoot the follower. Swapping pleasantries, they decide to go their separate ways to retrieve the last painting and shard. Travelling through an aquatic research area and back to dry land, she once again fights off undead skeletal warriors that guard the way to the fifth and final Obscura painting. Swimming through the water, she finally gains access to the main area and is lifted out of the water via a platform. What she sees is something that no other person would want to see – Eckhardt, Gunderson (Eckhardt's military lackey) and an unconscious Kurtis, with Eckhardt gloating about her success with the painting they failed time and time again to attain.

He makes her an offer – Kurtis for the painting. Seeing no other viable solution to the situation with out any harm being dealt, she sees it through, throwing the painting to Eckhardt, and Gunderson pushing Kurtis to the ground. Eckhardt orders the release of one of his most valued colleagues and Cabal member Boaz who had earlier been fed to one of the floral creations. Muller, who was in charge of the Biological research, was also pushed over the side to be fed on by the creature. Having each others back for defence, Kurtis gives Lara a boost to a platform higher up and throws her the shards, who argues that it should be him who deals the final blow. He says he will take care of Boaz to buy them some time, only to kill the creature that subsequently rips out of its former body and gets shot down by Kurtis once again. What came next however was not expected – with the creature's final breath, it stabs Kurtis, who falls to the ground seemingly dead.

All the while Lara makes her way through Eckhardts lab and onto a dead end. After Eckhardt makes his presence known, a fight ensues, with him making full use of his powers. After downing him with 2 of the shards, she whips the third out of her backpack only to be ambushed by Karel, another of Eckhardt's colleagues, who snatches the shard out of her hand and stabs Eckhardt himself. He then reveals that not only has been helping her all along, pulling the strings of the events that had taken place, he is also a Nephilim and shape shifts into Bouchard, Luddick the reporter Lara spoke to in Prague and finally, Kurtis. Not being able to believe what she's seen, he offers her a place in the new world he intends to create; something she turns down, citing that she is unable to trust him due to the many deaths of those around her.

One final battle ensues. Lara rushes over to Eckhardt's body to retrieve the Sanglyph, a glove made from the five metallic parts hidden in the paintings. Running up to the platforms Karel hovers over, she jumps to the Sleeper placing the glove onto it, swinging on the various cables to get to the ground and making a dash out towards the nearest exit while the Sleeper explodes taking Karel with it.

Finding nothing but Kurtis' chirugai and blood on the floor, she picks it up, only for it to seemingly come alive and direct her to another exit and possibly Kurtis…


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer: I don't own the Tomb Raider games as I'm pretty sure they belong to Square Enix/Eidos.**

**A/N - Sorry for the wait folks, thought I'd give it a short period of time between each chapter so I can make the necessary adjustments to the next the chapter in the story.**

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><p>Before walking through the darkness, Lara takes a hold of Kurtis' chirugai and willingly allows herself to be pulled along, readying herself for anything. Her heart beats erratically as she is gently but quickly dragged in what she assumes is the right direction.<p>

Thoughts flee as quickly as they come about what she thinks she'll find. It takes a few more minutes for the bladed weapon belonging to the missing owner to stop vibrating, retract its blades and become lifeless once again. Cursing it for uselessness, she makes use of her instincts and feels along the hard walls with her hands for any sign of an exit. Much to her delight and almost like a silent prayer had been answered; she manages to find one singular metal door with a bar across it. Pushing onto the bar, she steps outside into the morning light and finds herself fighting to stay warm due to the winter climate. She quietly stalks the alleyway, hoping at least to see a blood trail, but to no luck. To her amazement however, she notices a snow covered motorcycle. Her hopes high due to her discovery, she continues to walk down the alleyway.

The wind and snow bite at her skin as she makes it to the main street, still with no sign of him.

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><p>Being stabbed clearly wasn't on the agenda for Kurtis or anyone for that matter. Knowing that he had finally taken the flying monstrosity down and also that he had lost a lot of blood, he manages to pull himself up to the wall and stand. Dragging himself along, bloody silently drips down his clothes.<p>

It takes all of his willpower to prevent himself from passing out, to keep himself going even though he knows that Lara went to take care of Eckhardt. How she fared though was unknown and was something that worried him. She was only mortal and there was only so much of a beating she could take before she was down for the count. What he also knew was that if she was able to make it as far as she did in the Strahov, she'd be able to go further and possibly beat Eckhardt.

Finding the exit at long last, he pushes on the handle and makes his way outside into the bitter cold. He gently staggers down the alleyway, the pain becoming almost unbearable at this point. Knowing that he wouldn't be able to drive his beloved motorcycle to the nearest hospital, he simply chooses to leave it behind and decides that walking to the hospital would be the lesser of two evils.

Walking down alleyways so as to avoid confrontation and questions from the public, he wonders if Lara was successful in defeating Eckhardt and the Sleeper, if she was able to get out alive. Understanding dawns on him however when he realizes he left his Chirugai behind, but knows that Lara may pick it up if she's still alive.

He doesn't care about it anyway. What's done is done.

Making it out of yet another alleyway, he emerges on to the main road, unaware of how much blood he has lost and collapses for a second time.

The last thing he hears is the sound of sirens blaring.

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><p>Sitting down on the bed of a shabby hotel room she managed to get cheaply due to lack of funds, she tries to gather herself after what had happened in the past few weeks. She gets up to use the sink in the less than luxurious bathroom, turns the cold tap on and washes her face. Only looking in the mirror does every minute detail flash through her mind like a blur. She searches for a towel to dry her face with and sits herself back down on the bed. She picks up her backpack and starts to dig through it. She slowly trawls through Werner's diary, looking at all the information presented on each page as if to put all she's learned from it and her adventure back on them.<p>

Putting it to one side, her gaze moves to the, as far she knows, ownerless weapon. She takes it out of the bag, and runs her hand over it. The only thought that takes over her mind is where he could be right now and she wonders whether she should try to find him or leave the situation, that partnership they had formed as it is - at an end. She puts the discus back in the bag and lays her aching body on the bed for a few minutes.

Mind made up despite the possibility of her being noticed by police officers, she decides that the only sensible place that he could be would the nearest hospital due to his near insufferable injuries. Hastily grabbing her bag, Lara makes her way out of the room, making sure that she has everything she needs and that everything functions as it should. Walking through the lobby, she makes her way to main desk to ask for directions to the nearest hospital, with the receptionist and assumed proprietor responding in as best and most understandable English as he could possibly muster. She smiles and thanks him for his help and walks through the main door to the hotel, out on to the snow covered streets once again.

Remembering what the gentleman behind the hotel counter had told her, she finds her destination with ease. She thanks her quick thinking that occurred before she left her room to put her guns in her backpack and hopes to whatever god or fate that is watching her, that the hospital doesn't have a metal scanner like the ones found in airports. The only option she would have is to scout the area for a sensible place to dump them that she would remember and would be accessible should she need them in a hurry. Seeing the bright lights of the infirmary where her partner could possibly be temporarily dwelling in, she walks forth.

A little part of her was overjoyed when she found that the hospital didn't have the scanners she dreaded so much. She just had to have a watchful eye on those around her.


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: Sorry it's late. Had a teeny brain cell meltdown over the weekend due to lots of different stuff happening, Wanted to get it done Monday night, failing that by Tuesday night. Didn't do either due to late night work shifts so I got it done today instead. Will have the next chapter up every 2****nd**** Monday as usual.**

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><p>Carefully walking through the main lobby of the hospital, she makes her way to the reception, once again hoping to come across an English speaking member of staff.<p>

Gathering the courage to ask the receptionist a question due to the possibility of being noticed as a fugitive on the run, she walks up to the desk and asks, only to get a shock of what sounded like proper English coming from the woman's mouth. Which sounded a lot better than the owner of the hotel, however she had to give the man credit for at least trying. Asking the woman, she gets a reply and a small friendly warning to try and not cause the patient any stress since he had gone through surgery just a few hours before. She enquires if the visiting hours were over yet hoping the receptionist would be able to allow her to even if they were. Seeing the concern and desperation on the young woman's face, she gives Lara directions to Kurtis' room. Taking onboard this information, she smiles and thanks the receptionist for the help and proceeds through the doors and down the corridor to the second to last room on the left.

Must have been her lucky day to have come across two people who had learned to speak the language – broken or in this case, proper.

Strolling down the corridor, she makes it to his room. She takes a deep breath, unable to ready herself for the sight that would terrify any one if they saw their loved ones or friends in a similar situation. "Calm down, you're only checking to make sure he is ok" she thinks to herself. Slowly turning the door handle to his room, she finds him quietly resting on the bed, machines diligently performing their jobs that they were created to do. Taking off her bag, she placed herself in the chair by the bedside and looked on forlornly at the one person that had saved her life, who had also interested her due to his heritage. Kurtis?" she said softly, bringing herself and the chair closer to the bed. She sat there in the hope that he would at least wiggle his fingers as a sign that he could hear her and understand her.

But nothing. Just the rise and fall of his chest, the only indication that he was alive and breathing.

Checking the top corners of the room for CCTV cameras, she took the Chirugai out of her bag hoping it would spring to life after being returned to its owner. Instead, it just sat lifeless in her hand. Placing it back in her bag after failing to be of any use, she sat quietly willing herself to stay awake in case danger decided to rear its ugly head. She thought about getting herself a coffee but decided against it, remembering that most of the money she had on her was given to the reporter she came across just days earlier who helped her access the Strahov and then some to the hotel owner for the room. Forty five minutes had passed since she arrived and hardly anything eventful had happened. A nurse gently strolled into the room, and smiled at Lara. Checking on Kurtis and the faithful hospital equipment, she asks "How is he doing?" "Quite well, considering the severity of his injury. He should be able to leave in the next few weeks. Although I must say, I've never seen a wound like this healing unusually fast." the nurse replied. "Just to inform you, the visiting hours will be over shortly. The visitor facilities will be available at the same times tomorrow" the nurse continued.

Smiling and thanking the nurse who shortly afterwards left the room, Lara looks through the draw for a pen and paper with which to leave a note to Kurtis should he wake up.

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><p><em>Kurtis,<em>

_I'm writing this down to let you know that I found you at the hospital and you were out like a light. Eckhardt has been taken care of, courtesy of Karel. He stabbed Eckhardt, in the head with the final Periapt shard (much to my surprise) and said that Eckhardt unknowingly worked for him, gathering everything he needed to give life to the Nephilim. He shape shifted into all the people I had met along the way here including you. Karel tried to convince me to join him in his so called new-world he planned to create – which clearly failed and resulted in a showdown. I managed to get the Sanglyph off of Eckhardt's hand and destroy the sleeper with it, presumably taking Karel with it. I stumbled into the hall where I last saw you – only to find you gone. You did leave a rather large pool of drying blood and your disc-shaped weapon, which came to life. _

_I may visit again tomorrow provided I can get myself cleared of any and all charges that the police have which you must know of since you found me in Prague. _

_Hope you get well soon_

She hesitated, wondering what to write next. She decided to go with her gut feelings due to how spontaneous the partnership was, how close they got during the siege in the Louvre. This left her pondering on whether it was just the attraction she felt towards him or whether it was just a fleeting emotion.

_All my love,_

_Lara_

_X_

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><p>She put the pen and note on his bedside table, hoping that he would get a chance to read it. Picking up her backpack she left the room, taking on last glance back at her newest accomplice. "Goodbye Kurtis" she said, closing the door gently so as not to startle or wake him as per the receptionists orders. She sighs, walking out of the hospital, thanking the receptionist for allowing her to visit at such an unusual time.<p>

Once again, she walks back to the hotel being wary of anyone following her or eyeing her suspiciously. Greeting the man behind the counter once more, she makes her way back to the room designated only to her, she, takes off her bag making sure to put it somewhere safe in case of a break-in. She goes to wash her face and goes to lie down on the bed to catch up on some very much needed sleep.


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N:** **Ok, change to schedule! I'll try to crack out a chapter a little more often from now on!**

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><p>Sunrise. The one thing to wake every living being on the planet up. After a somewhat peaceful night, Lara wakes up and pushes the covers off of her, replacing them across the bed as if she were never there. Strapping on her boots, she quickly washes her face reminding herself that when she returns home to England, she will give her teeth the brushing of a lifetime. Finding a brush in one of the drawers, she quickly unties her hair and runs the brush through; ridding it of any tangles it would have accrued over the past few months. She ties her hair back up, locates her bag, checks it one final time and puts it back on knowing that she won't be there much longer.<p>

Making her way downstairs, Lara thanks the hotel owner and pays off what she owes him. Walking to the main street, she wanders around trying to find the nearest place to eat; having forgot to ask the hotel owner where she could locate a diner of sorts. She finds herself striding over to a café, remembering the last time she did so, a motorcycle was sat parked outside; its owner sat in the corner of the establishment reading a newspaper, pretending not to be there when in fact he was there for the same reason she was – information. Noticing that she had hardly any money left, she strode up to the counter, ordered a coffee and toast; something simple to tide her over until she got home, pays for her food and sits at a table in the corner. Having consumed everything she asked for, she walks out of the café and makes her way to the police station.

Remembering that she still had her bag equipped, she looks for a place to stash it, hoping both that no one finds it and that she can get it back when she is done with the questions that are sure to be fired at her upon her arrival. Stashing it in some trustworthy looking shrubbery, she takes a deep breath and walks into the station, speaks to the officer at reception and leaves everything up to fate.

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><p>The sun quietly shines through the blinds in room. Machines beep obediently, recording all vital information coming from the patient lying in the bed. The same nurse that Lara spoke to when she briefly visited tended to said patient, making sure all wires and machine were working as they should. Kurtis slowly opens his eyes, the light coming in from the blinds almost blinding him. "So I see you're finally awake" the nurse starts. With help from the nurse, he gently pulls himself to sit up in the bed.<p>

"How long have I been out?"

"Quite some time. It's been 2 weeks since you were found bleeding to death out on the street by passersby. Thankfully, they called for an ambulance and you were brought in. I'll be back later to check in on you. If you need anything, just press the button and someone will be here."

"When will I be able to get out of here?" He asks.

"You may need to stay here a while longer, despite your wound healing at an unusual rate." The nurse moves him forward to sort his pillows and leaves the room, gently closing the door behind her. He rests back against the pillows and sighs, trying to acclimatise himself to the situation.

Pulling the collar of his hospital gown forward he looks down to see the scarring Boaz left him with. He leaves his collar to drop back by itself and sighs again, beside himself not knowing what to do. Rolling his head to look out of the window, he notices a pen with a piece of paper on his bedside table. He moves the pen to one side and picks the note up and upon finding his name on it, proceeds to read it. He takes all the information in; about Eckhardt, the shape shifter Karel whose current status is dead according to Lara and the last thing at the bottom of the page that caught his eye.

Was it normal for Lara to finish off her letters that way? Kurtis didn't know and presumably didn't care but it certainly struck something in him, something that he didn't want to feel. He worked alone and required no partners; with previous events being exempt, they both understood that it made sense to split the work up between them. The one thing he didn't want was to grow emotionally attached to her, especially due to the fact that he had no one left from his order to turn to. That's the way it was going to be. He knew that feeling emotions made a person human, but he had an enemy to defeat. He had no time to feel emotions.

Putting the note back on the bedside table, he decided to rest up and concentrate on healing, no longer liking the eerily familiar environment which reminded him so much of the sanatorium in the Strahov. He recounts the people walking around mindlessly, the victims of lobotomy and other gruesome experiments that he dared not to dream of less he subject himself to nightmares. Being captured by Gunderson and Eckhardt put a dampener on their plans, but they eventually managed to regroup in the end. Unfortunately for the pair, she had to give up the paining she had worked hard to find in order to get him back. He cursed the attitude he brought towards his half of the job and getting himself captured, only to be saved by a woman of all people. What made it worse was that he had been used as a bargaining tool in return for his life. However, the next thing he remembers was that Eckhardt had no more use for one member of his group, and revealed to both himself and Lara that one who had already failed him had been fed to one of his 'pets' and had been turned into, as they soon found out, a monstrosity that Kurtis himself thought neither of them could handle. After all, she was only mortal and he could only levitate one of them up towards the platform above.

Knowing that he would have to be the one to dispose of what was once a human being called Boaz, now turned into a crawling abomination; he would have to leave Lara the job he initially thought he would be taking care of. Throwing her the shards his order created to destroy Eckhardt, she turned around asking him to quickly follow up, offering her arm even though they were a considerable distance away from each other. He remembers telling her to go whilst he took care of Boaz, not knowing that even though he defeated what he thought was her only form, she would leave the shell of her former body and take flight; only to be brought down again by Kurtis. Her final act of destruction was to stab him, however he got the last kill in between them, beheading her with his Chirugai.

After that, all went blank for him. It was going to be a while before he could leave the hospital and finally gain some peace.


	5. Chapter 5

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**A/N: Tried to get this chapter posted up as quickly as possible!**

****Also a big thank you to Nemesis for the ongoing reviews and to GaGaQueen – I know how much it sucks to not have follow up to the game as most of us were really looking forward to it!****

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><p><em>1 month later…<em>

It surprised Lara to find that procedure with the police would be so simple. All they really wanted to her in for was questioning. Even though she gave them the information they needed, she decided that anything else pertaining to Kurtis, Eckhardt and everything else wasn't exactly plausible evidence worth mentioning. Hours later, it had been announced that she was free to go but was warned that should they need her for anything, they will be in contact. She would be watched closely in case anything else happened. Not that that bothered her in the slightest, she hadn't done anything wrong as far as they knew, apart from being framed for murder of course.

Contacting Zip & Winston back home, they manage to arrange a private flight for her so as not to attract anymore attention from the public than she already had. All she wanted to do was go back home and rest. She wanted to get out of Prague desperately, apart from the architecture; life had just dished up hell for her. It had been a long couple of months for her, she wanted to eat, drink, sleep, shower – just get back to normality.

Which was a bit of a joke really, nothing was ever normal for her and she knew that fact all too well.

She quickly runs to the hedges to find her trusty backpack and puts it back on, after which she called for a taxi to get to the airport hoping that he would pay her no mind after being on the news recently. Arriving at the airport, she sees someone waving her over. Entering the plane, she greets the pilot in the most pleasant way she could possibly manage, dumps her bag on the seat opposite her and sits down. Remembering to ask the pilot to inform her of their near arrival of the airport in England, she plonks her legs up on the seat and goes to sleep. It was going to be a long journey back home. 

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><p>Having spent a month inside the dreary hospital, Kurtis found himself delighted to finally be leaving. What he wasn't delighted about though was that he was hooked up to various machines and being given god only knows what drugs.<p>

First things first – his beloved transportation.

"Where the heck did I leave my bike?" was the only question that left his mouth and took up any space for thought in his mind. The only way he could find it would be to backtrack from the hospital, but which direction? Which road was he supposed to take? Unfortunately he was unconscious and being driven in an ambulance to the nearest emergency room, practically destroying any chance for him to relocate his ride. Sitting on a nearby bench, he thought about anything that might help him. Five minutes later and still nothing. "Of course! Why didn't I think of that from that from the beginning?" Hopes high due to this new revelation, he looks around to see if there was anyone nearby to disturb him and makes himself comfortable.

Having noted that it had been a period of time since he last used his farsee ability he was a little anxious, having no idea as to whether it would still work or not. He had no time to waste, goodness knows whether it as still there or if someone had away with it. Placing his arms in front of himself, he breathes deeply and closes his eyes; Kurtis concentrates on forcing his consciousness to do the job for him which would otherwise mean walking around aimlessly for hours through the streets. "There!" – He finally found it, after searching for ten minutes he was overjoyed that no one had touched it or even marked. Drawing his consciousness back to him, he slammed back painfully against the bench; he leans forward resting his elbows on his knees putting his hands to his head due to the pain. "Certainly had that one coming after not using it for a while."

Committing the short trip to memory as if doing the same with a map, he rubs his temples to try to focus to prevent himself falling over and being taken back into the hospital. Readying himself for the short trip, he gets up and checks that he has everything he needs. Quickening his walk into a short jog, he once again takes to the alleyways in search of his bike. Taking the shortest route through the streets, he notices a very small stain of blood on the ground and looks up through the alleyway, only now fully recalling where he was last found by the public. He walks on further, his motorbike coming into his almost greedy sight once again. With wary hands he wipes away whatever snow had still lingered on it and checks the bike over. Although he couldn't tell if any internal damage had been delivered to it, Kurtis was just glad that he found his steed where he had last left it. Rifling through his pockets, he finds his keys and starts the bike up to check how much fuel he had left which as he found was adequately full for a trip.

It only comes to his attention that he was missing something. His chirugai.

Knowing that he left it back in the Strahov, he retraces his steps back down to the gloomy depths of the arena he fought Boaz. All that came to sight was a pool of his own blood which he wasn't surprised about, but no sign of his weapon. "I'm sure I left it here…" After realisation hits him like a ton of bricks, he lifts his head up and sighs "…Croft's got my weapon…" Scrambling around in his pockets once more, Kurtis checks the letter Lara left him. "No phone number. No address. How the hell am I supposed to get it back?"

Leaving the internally destroyed building, he hops back on his bike determined to find her and get his weapon back no matter what the cost. "Where to start? I'll see if any of my contacts are still about, see what they can find out". Driving the bike up to the end of the alleyway, he checks for any oncoming traffic and pulls out on to the main road. Having made his mind up, he finally decides on a location.

Destination: France. 


	6. Chapter 6

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**A/N: Thank you once again for the reviews –**

**GaGaQueen – I certainly do know! As long as Lara doesn't decide to don a mini skirt and start mincing about, I think they'll do an OK job with her story! I read on a forum that there are groups doing fan made AOD sequels. **

**Alice L. Malcolm & Nemesis – thank you for the encouragement! I started this story & one way or another I intend to finish it!**

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><p>"Miss Croft, we're about to touch down" the pilot announced over the intercom.<p>

Lara's eyes fluttered open and she pushed up from the seats, groaning from the slight pain which was caused by lying awkwardly for such a long period of time. She looked out of the window, glad to see the familiar sights once again. After having to sit tight whilst the plane was turned around, she picked up her bag and left the plane, thanking the pilot on the way out. She noticed two even more familiar people standing near the car that had been parked up the in the plane's hangar waiting to pick her up and get her home – Zip and Winston. Smiling gratefully she strolled over to the pair, hugging both of them tightly, happy to be on solid ground once again. "Good to have you back Lara" said Zip, glad to see his friend back.

Having finished the meet and greet session, the three got into the car and drove home. Knowing she was due to be interrogated by the two, she opts to tell them what had happened instead of sitting uncomfortably in silence. 10 minutes later and after many questions, she was at the end of the tale, "…and after I left the hospital, I decided to clear the air with the authorities and sort this entire mess out. It took a while and some of my patience, but we got a result at the end". Breathing deeply, she felt relieved to have gotten that all off of her chest and looked out of the window. Something however was still nagging at her but she couldn't put her finger on exactly what it was. Zip and Winston quickly glanced at each other. Zip still couldn't believe or even get his around what this woman could achieve or what danger she got herself into. Winston on the other hand knew everything having worked for her and her family for as long as he could remember. None of it fazed her or even him in the slightest. All they knew was that as long as she had her equipment and help at hand she could accomplish almost anything.

Overhead, the sky had started to darken, announcing the arrival of clouds and rain. She opened the window ever so slightly to allow clear, fresh air into the car and continued to look out of it for the rest of the journey. An hours drive later and they had finally reached the gates of the manor. Driving through she looked around, nothing different to notice. Everything was the same as if the events of the past few months had never happened. The car pulled up in the drive and the passengers got out, Lara taking the only object in her possession with her into the house; Winston and Zip following with haste due to the slightly harsh change in weather. "I'll get supper started Lady Croft. I will inform you of when it is ready" Winston started. "Thank you Winston. I'll be up in my room if anyone needs me" Lara said. "And I'll be in the computer area. Holler at me if you need me" Zip chimed in.

Heading off in their separate directions, Lara drearily pulled herself up the stairs, desperate to just get cleaned up, eat something decent and sleep peacefully in her own bed. Throwing her bag on her bed, she sat down and took off her boots. She rummaged through her bag, took out Kurtis' weapon and gave it a once over. Putting her fingers through the holes once again, she stretched her arm out twisting it to get an all over look at the Chirugai. Sighing, she lowered her arm down and put the circular weapon on her table, making her way to the shower to get cleaned up.

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><p>Having picked up the keys from underneath the doormat, Kurtis makes his way inside the apartment a friend had lent him to stay in. Opening the fridge door, he picks some bread, cheese and meat, after which he closes the door. Prepping a simple sandwich, he searches the cupboards for a cup and opens up the tap to fill it. Settling at the relatively large circular table occupying a majority of the open plan kitchen, he downs the meagre meal that took relatively no time at all to make, drinks the entire cup of water and places them in the sink, making space to check his gun over.<p>

Having recalibrated everything, he makes his way to the bathroom and takes a shower. Wrapping a towel around his waist, he can't help but notice the still overly apparent scar on his abdomen. Walking over to the bedroom, he rifles through the drawers and luckily manages to find underpants, a vest top and trousers that fit. Dropping into the chair he switches the TV on and flicks through the channels trying to find something, anything interesting to take his mind off of the waiting he is patiently trying to do so his contacts can get the correct information on the one person he is trying to track down – Lara Croft.

The woman had taken something of his without permission, albeit he was unconscious at the time and she had no other choice. It would have been far easier for him if she had just left it where it was; instead she has him chase her halfway round the world just to get his property back. He sat staring at the TV in complete silence, contemplating if there was a deeper meaning behind him wanting to get his weapon back, if either wanted to be in each others presence once more. Questions, wild thoughts and a variety of scenarios ran through his head if he did see her again. What would they say? What would they do? A shiver ran down his spine that he subsequently failed to suppress.

He decides to just let fate run its course upon their meeting.

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><p><strong>AN: So sorry this chapter is late. I would have had it posted up yesterday, but I've been incredibly concerned for friends who are in the riot zones in the UK. I will try to do a double chapter release within the week, but forgive me if that plan doesn't come to fruition!**


	7. Chapter 7

**A/N: Surprise! Going for a triple chapter release this week to make up for the lack of updates =). Also, I've got a brand new computer & currently in the process of trying to retrieve all the previous chapters from the old PC.**

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><p><em>5 days later...<em>

Having answered the manor's door to collect the delivery of weapons and ammunition to add to her ever shortening supply, Lara calls Zip to assist her with the pallet full of boxes of varying shapes and sizes. Trudging through to the armoury with the pallet in tow, they finally settle it down and unload the boxes carefully, placing the pallet to one side. "It's OK Zip, I think I can manage from here" she said, leaning on one of the many boxes. Being thankful that Lara allowed him to go back to his faithful computers he walked off, reminding her to let him know if she needed him. Smiling, she nodded her thanks and started to unpack her boxes.

Picking each weapon up individually, she finds a space for them on the rack in their respective cages; the ammunition for each being placed in drawers below. After about an hour and thirty minutes later, she looks around whilst breaking down a few of the boxes for storage and places them neatly in the corner of the room. Breathing deeply was a sign that she was satisfied with the small job that she had completed and satisfied she was – the armoury was fully stocked to an appropriate level. She goes around to set the locks and alarms for each cage and drawer and proceeds to leave the room; taking to the stairs, she turns around to take one last look at the fully stocked room, turning back to shut the door. Walking through the large hallway in the middle of the manor, Winston lets her know that dinner will be ready shortly. She greatly thanks him and makes her way to the dining room whilst Winston diverges towards Zips computer area to tell him the same. Whilst eating, the three talk about all sorts of things, some baffling Zip, Winston or Lara respectively; whilst other subjects had them nattering and gossiping away like a trio of old ladies.

Having finished their meals, all three excuse themselves; Winston to his 'quarters' as he called them, Zip to his computers and Lara to the library which housed the room full of artefacts that Lara had collected over the years – a place where she strangely enough did not situate Kurtis' chirugai. She kept that in an intricate box underneath her bed, one of which had a key lock and only she knew where that specific key was. The chirugai held a memory for her, one that she was fond of and upon remembering, she recalled how suspicious she was of the unnatural silence in that room.

Slowly advancing into the room, she was immediately alerted to presence of an oncoming weapon, which embeds itself into the wall beside her. Eyes sweeping every direction in front of her, she backs up which results in her bumping into the circular weapons' owner. The butterfly's in her stomach were rampant at the next part, something she was likely to never forget for a while. Holding a gun to her head, he ran his hand down her arm, all the way to her hand to remove her gun. She blushes upon recollecting the next part, as he snaked his hand around her stomach to relieve her of the remaining weapon in her holster and the painting she worked so hard to attain from her bag. Quickly spinning around, they come face to face, his blue eyes piercing her brown ones. Not realising that she was being drawn in to him, he quickly reminded her that he was the only one carrying a weapon at the time and would shoot her given the chance. He slowly retreats, recalling his chirugai back to him, her eyes following it as she found herself heavily intrigued.

"The cheek" she smiled shaking her head as she remembered he waved it, silently beckoning her like an owner shaking a toy to get the dogs attention. Everything else after that was a case of catch me if you can – which ended badly as they were both knocked out one after the other.

Retiring to her bedroom for the night, she finds the butterfly's in her stomach had finally calmed down but her blush, although faded, had remained. Having changed into suitable bed clothes, she opens the windows ever so slightly, the familiar smell of the rain wafting in through. She jumps into bed, pulls the covers over herself and turns her bedside light off, blissfully unaware of the coming events.

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><p>His patience was wearing thin, having waited what seemed like months was actually a few days; four to be exact; taking small jobs in the meantime to accrue funds for anything he needed. On the fifth day however, news came in the form of a phone call, one that Kurtis gladly accepted. Pen and paper to hand, he wrote down every scrap of information the caller on the the other end of the line offered. Ending his call with a rather grateful thanks, he looks at the notes he had taken down and rips the piece of paper from the pad. Packing his bag with everything he requires, he dashes down the stairs in the apartment block and rushes through the door, jumping on to his bike and driving off with haste.<p>

Hours later and he had entered England. He had familiarised himself with the rules of the motorway to make sure that he didn't get himself in his own words, 'busted', before he got to Lara. Finding himself driving along roads lined with hedges, he had a feeling he was getting close. A smug grin appeared on his face as he mentally congratulated himself for getting this far without screwing up or taking a wrong turn, as especially at this time of night anything could go wrong which he wished wouldn't happen; a wish that was granted only to him on this night of nights. Pushing his bike just a bit harder, it roared - his trusty steed determined, giving its all to get him to his destination.

With the manor on the next turn, he slowed his bike down, grounding to a halt wondering how to approach the situation; should he knock on the door or sneak in? The latter choice sending a warm feeling gently course through his stomach, his heart racing at the memory of what took place in the Louvre which further enhanced the feeling and clouded his decision. He recalled how she slowly, almost unconsciously leant in, he himself wanting to do the same. But he had to remind himself that he had a goal to achieve and if this was the way it had to go then so be it. However the time for hesitation was taken away from him as the typical English weather decided to greet him in its own particular fashion. Not wanting to be soaked to the bone, he pushes his bike near a hedge outside the gates and kicks out the stand for which the bike can rest upon. He gently holds up his arms and uses his farsee to seek her out, the one person that he knew made his heart race the way it did, the way no one else could do. There, he found her, the rain almost pounding against his skin. Reclaiming his consciousness, he finds it easy to scale the gate, fingers mentally crossed that no alarms had gone off. Running as quickly as his legs would allow him, he directs himself towards the western side of the manor, towards Lara's room.

Concentrating hard and as quickly as he possibly could, he looked for anything that could be used as leverage after noting a window was open; one he correctly deduced was hers. At that moment in time, the heavens opened and rain poured down heavily as if it had saved it all up just for this situation. Grabbing on to any handholds, he slowly made his way up so as to avoid attracting any attention. On the way up to the top, he tried to anchor his foot into a hold, only for it to hit the wall heavily and he cursed himself for not being careful enough.

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><p>Just as she was about to venture to the land of nod, her eyes flashed open upon hearing what she thought was a noise against the outside wall of the manor. She slowly sits up, heart beating rapidly at what it could possibly be. She had no weapons to hand, except for her hand to hand combat skills.<p>

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><p>Finding himself closing in on the window ledge, he grabs on to it, gently hauling his rain drenched body up and into her room. He stands in front of the window, adrenaline coursing through his veins, his heart beating away.<p>

Their eyes meet.


	8. Chapter 8

**A/N: A big thank you to nemesis for the ongoing reviews & encouragement, it is greatly appreciated!**

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><p>Despite having opened the window to let fresh air in, the atmosphere was still slightly clammy. Only clad in a pair of shorts and a vest top compared to his water sodden cargo trousers and double layered tops, the goose bumps were becoming ever visible on Lara's skin as the odd bit of cold air wafted in.<p>

Standing only a small distance away from each other, all they could do was stare at one another, almost as if waiting for the other to make the first move. Both their hearts threatened to tear their way out of their chests given the opportunity. Even though it had been a month, upon closer inspection she noticed that his hair had grown out and he had also acquired stubble along his jaw, which was when she felt a third presence– those pesky butterfly's. His eyes were still that particular shade of blue and looked like they could pierce anyone's soul if they were to stare into them for long enough. Swallowing, she could see his stomach muscles and chest heaving from exertion through rain soaked clothes. Kurtis however couldn't find anything noticeably different about her looks, which supposedly worked in her favour.

Thunder rolled in the distance as the rain continued to pound the earth it fell on. The current situation was so tense, you could cut it with a knife.

It felt like forever as they slowly closed the gap between them and it was then that she decided to break the silence that had overpowered the room. "How did you find me?" she managed to whisper. "Contacts" he said, responding in the same way, although this wasn't the hardened demon hunter responding – this was another side of him, his human side. A part of her wanted to hear his voice again as if she had forgotten it, and when her wish was granted, her head swam and she felt almost weak at the knees; the butterfly's were going absolutely berserk in response. Hormones were flying about the room going unnoticed by the untrained eye.

What took place next happened out of pure almost animal need. Quickly closing the gap, the demon hunter and the tomb raider forcefully pulled themselves together in an embrace; her hands holding his face; his hands wrapped around her waist and the back of her head respectively. Their bodies trying their hardest to become entangled with one another and kisses becoming all the more passionate as their lips mingled almost desperately. Completely oblivious to their surroundings, she pulls him back on to the bed with her, ripping his wet shirts off and throwing them to one side whilst he tries successfully to kick his boots off, not wanting to get her sheets dirty with all the mud he had tracked through. These weren't the same two people who had been seen working only in partnership to save humankind– those were only the shells which had until now stayed closed to all. What had been caged up inside had on this very night been let out as the two bodies urgently tried to become one whole being.

Their actions had slowed ever so slightly but had retained every ounce of desperation as he trailed his lips across her neck, ghosting just behind her ear. A chilling sensation ran down her body as he ran his lips even further down her body only stopping so far as her stomach to trail kisses around her waist and her sides. Catching what he considered a sweet point on her side, he noticed her back attempting to arch, a faint gasp escaping her lips. Moving back up to continue his lustful assault on her neck, she runs her hands over his chest and lets them drift over his back, digging her nails along his spine showing that she could fight fire with fire if necessary. This however only spurns him on, so she decides to take matters into her own hands by hooking her one of her legs around his, using his weight against him to climb on top and kneel over him. Confused, he looks up at her as she smiles triumphantly at her victory. Kurtis doesn't give up so easily as he sits up and rests on his arms, just so the driving force behind this impassioned encounter can stay in contact with her.

Lowering his eyes, he watches as she runs her hands over his stomach, lightly tracing the remnants of the scar he was left with from their adventure in Prague, moving them further up and across his chest making his skin tingle. Allowing his eyes to wander back along in the same direction of her hands, he watches as she leans forward and drapes her arms around his neck, resulting in their lips meeting and him resting his hands on her waist once more. A startlingly cold breeze whips through the window, hitting her back. He feels it drift against his hands and instinctively wraps his arms around her back to shield her from the cold.

Neither of them have a care in the world right now. They were in each others arms and nothing else mattered. Removing his damp trousers, they get into bed thankful that it was large enough to accommodate the both of them. Pulling the covers over themselves, they return to their embrace and quietly fall asleep as the patter of rain continues to litter the ground outside.

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><p>As the sun rises to announce the arrival of a new day, the birds sitting on the branches of trees outside chirp away happily; streams of sunlight pour through the open window of Lara's bedroom. Her eyes flutter open, a sign that she had managed to get a good nights' sleep.<p>

It's only then, that she realises something is amiss.

Kurtis.

She wasn't in his arms nor were his arms around her as they had been last night. His clothes weren't strewn across the floor as he had left them. She quickly sits up, removing the covers and leaps out of her bed. She quickly runs to each room in the hopes that he is in any one of them. "You OK Lara?" Zip asks, bewildered by Lara's frantic running and searching. "I'm fine" she yells, speedily returning to her room. On her way up, she searches her mind, asking herself the same questions and coming to exactly the same answers each time. "Of course..." Her eyes widen at her new found revelation, she drops to the floor, looking under her bed for the box containing his Chirugai. It amazed her that somehow he had managed to get into the box without making a sound so as to avoid waking her up, let alone not bothering to find the key to the box itself. Holding the box in her hands, she stands back up and looks out the window, breathing heavily in anger. She should have known that it was completely out of character for him to do something like that. Putting the box to one side, she closes her window and thinks to herself _"He got what he came for."_

Rubbing her head with her hands, she heads off to the bathroom to get showered up, deciding to start her day anew as if nothing happened.

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><p>Sitting down at the table for breakfast, she still feels enraged, leading to her thinking out loud "that's the last time I decide to partner up with anyone if this is what it leads to." Zip and Winston look at each other and then at her. A curious Zip asks "What does what lead to?" spooning mouthfuls of breakfast cereal into his mouth. The only answer he gets is look that could kill. Woah, sorry I asked" he says, bringing his arms up in front of him as defence.<p>

Having finished breakfast, she leaves for the indoor swimming pool to try and relieve her stress.


	9. Chapter 9

**A/N: Sorry for making the previous chapter hamtastic! I had it all planned out and then my brain turned to slush _. Also, sorry for the chapter being released a little later than planned- a combination of my dog deciding that my thumb and eyebrow would be good to bite on as well as a lot of work had put me back. As always, thank you for the reviews =)  
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><p>The ride back was uneventful as always. The crisp, cold air ruffled his hair chilling his knees in the process. On the outside he felt proud of his accomplishment, but on the inside he was unable to think clearly; chaos currently reigned. What he had done was obviously out of character even for him, but he did what he had to do. He wanted to sate that other side of him that wanted to see her, to feel her. What was going through his mind right now was a mixture of business and betrayal. But all of this could wait. He had to concentrate on getting home in one piece with his reclaimed property.<p>

Several hours later and he was back home. Parking up in the provided space, he puts the key to his bike back in his pocket and trudges back up the stairs to the apartment he was given. Quietly closing the door, he strides over to the kitchen table and rests his bag upon it taking his chirugai out and examining it. Unable to find any signs that it had been tampered with, he leaves it on the table tossing his bag to one side and goes to prepare something simple to eat and drink. Reminding himself to wash the plate and cup up later after dinner, he leads himself to the shower to wash up, the cold rain from the previous night having left him feeling drained. Climbing in, he turns the shower on to receive a blast of hot water to the chest. Allowing the water to drench him, he stands against the shower wall mulling over what had happened. Rationalising, he could have simply just asked her for it. However, the feeling inside of him had unfortunately taken over at that point in time and he couldn't push it aside just like that. Frowning, he thought no more of it, he had to get back what belonged to him as soon as possible. It had been passed down through the generations and various families of the Lux Veritatis; as far as he knew, he was the sole survivor and had a responsibility to make sure that it never fell into the wrong hands.

Searching through the steam for a towel, he wraps it round his waist determined to relax and get on with life as usual. He was sure she would do the same considering the circumstances. It was a one time thing that will never happen again. To rid himself of those thoughts, he gets dressed and makes his way to the town centre by foot looking for a newspaper preoccupy his mind. Having bought a one, Kurtis walks to a nearby café and orders a coffee, locating a table and seat in which to rest himself. Head resting on on hand, he idly flicks through each page immersing himself in any story or article that looked remotely interesting. Only to find none of this helps- it only serves to remind him of the moment when Lara strolled into the café, querying the owner Pierre about any leads to the Monstrum and Bouchard. He couldn't help but overhear how overpowering she sounded, how she demanded information resulting in polite threats being made against him if he tried anything funny. Making a deal with the British stranger for information, she walked off not realising that Kurtis was sat in the corner allegedly minding his own business. He remembers doing the same, running outside to jump on his bike and get ahead of her as quickly as possible. Not finding anything of interest in the nightclub, he climbs back on his bike, only taking a couple of seconds to take notice of her before driving off.

Knowing this is doing him no good, he walks home knowing that the only thing that can take his mind off of Lara was work – lots of it.

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><p>It had been four months since Kurtis had, in her own words, showed his unscrupulous face. She had decided that a holiday would be brilliant, considering how much work she had to do whilst on the run from the police; as well as all the little adventurous jobs she had piled up on her desk back in the manor. Having hired a boat, she packs all the essentials needed for a vacation, the most notable being a bathing suit and a wetsuit in case she decides to take a dive. Everything else like diving apparatus she could hire if necessary. Hours later and she had arrived, having left early in the morning to beat the traffic. She notes all the equipment that had been left for her on the boat and smiles, sailing the boat out into the ocean. This was the sort of peace and quiet she had been looking forward to for a while. The only thing that reminded her of Kurtis just happened to be the exact same thing the boat was floating on. She sits on on the deck chair and places her laptop and PDA on the small table next to it, closing her eyes and catching as much sun as she could manage without getting burnt. Several other boats bobbed up and down on the sea in the distance, all probably carrying passengers trying to do the same.<p>

The PDA rings, resulting in Lara opening one eye to locate the device and hit a button. "Hey Lara. You having fun out there?" Zip asks, delighted that she had finally got out of the house and not having it lead to more work. "I certainly am Zip. The view is absolutely beautiful! I can practically look over the side and see an endless abyss of...bloody blue" the latter she whispers to herself, becoming annoyed that there was always something there to remind her of Kurtis. "An endless abyss of?" he chimes in, wanting to know what she was going to end the sentence with. She replies "Just an endless abyss Zip. The sea is almost bottomless. How are you and Winston? Hope everything's OK". "Everything's fine on our end. Winston has almost lost his mind not knowing what to do since you've gone away. It's not the same like when you go off looking for artefacts, he's fine. I take it you are still spending a week out there?" he says, looking on humorously at the slightly significant change in the older man. "I will be. A little bit of sight seeing wouldn't do me any harm I suppose. I will let you know when I'm on my way home later Zip. Send my love to Winston." "Will do Lara. Take care and don't go doing anything I wouldn't" he replies and she could sense the mischief in his voice. They both hang up simultaneously and she goes back to relaxing.

"I will definitely enjoy myself on this vacation and any thoughts about that bloody yank will not ruin it for me" she tells herself, determined to get the most out of this holiday. She gets up off the deck chair and dives over the side of the boat to take a swim and enjoy everything the water had to offer. She notes to herself that the next day would be sight seeing on land and after that mainly diving, discovering the depths of the ocean bed and its features.

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><p>Once again pulling up into the apartments parking spaces, Kurtis parks his bike and walks back to the provided apartment. The night sky full of stars lingers overhead, light from each individual street lamp confidently illuminating the way. The past four months had been somewhat kind, offering him jobs all over Europe. However, it had taken its toll on him and every time he went to bed, he would fall asleep the moment his head hit the pillow. Exhausted and covered in all sorts of grime and filth, he pulls his tired body up the stairs and through the door. He chucks his bag on the floor of the living room, throwing his clothes in a basket on the way to the shower. Having adequately cleaned himself up, he grabs meat and bread out of the fridge and creates a simple sandwich; which he subsequently leaves on the bread board to check the ringing phone on the table in the other room.<p>

Taking it out of its cradle, he responds. "Hello?" "Good evening Mr Trent." the voice on the other end of the line replies. "Who is this and how did you get my number?" "Never mind my name. I have a request to ask of you." the anonymous caller says. "OK. What is it?" Kurtis asks, almost unsure that he wants to go through with it. "I need you to retrieve something valuable for me from an exhibit in England in three weeks time. There will be a significant reward upon completion. I will send you the information soon." "How do you know where to send it or where I live?" comes the hurried, cautious reply from Kurtis. "I have my ways and contacts. I will talk to you soon Mr Trent. Oh and by the way, knowing your line of work, I hope you can find something suitable to wear for the evening so you wont look out of place between the gathering. " and the line goes dead. Putting the phone back in its cradle, he sits down and puts his head in his hands, not sure of the situation. "Money's money I guess" he thinks to himself.

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><p>Having enjoyed her week off of working and hunting for artefacts, she spends an hour training in the gym so as to keep in shape. The moment she got back, Winston had cheered up significantly that even Zip had noticed it although he had to chuckle to himself. The older gentleman had been slightly panicky throughout the week, so used to working almost around the clock for Lara. So it comes as no surprise that she finds after showering, a small pile of folders mounting on her desk.<p>

All work and no play as they say.

She walks over to the pile, grabbing any folder and quickly glancing through it. She walks over to Zip's computer area in the manor, and as they start to dig up records the phone rings. Winston picks it up and answers, taking the phone over to Lara for her to answer. "Who is it?" Winston shakes his head "I answered Lady Croft, only to hear him ask for you." Taking the phone from his hand, she answers. "Hello? Who may I ask is calling?" being careful not to set off any hostility from the other end. "My name is Mr Jonathan Bennett. Am I correct in saying that, being a renowned archaeologist you are interested in finding retrieving objects of historical nature, even if they are in or from danger laden areas?" "Yes that is correct. Although danger seems to find me most of the time." she answers, looking at a concerned Zip and Winston. "I have a request for you. Will you take it?" the stranger on the end of the line asks. "Depends. What is it?" her curiosity piquing. "It is something deemed very valuable, and belongs in my possession which at this time it does not. You will be given a rather significant reward for its retrieval and return."

Becoming more and more interested she asks three very simple questions - "What, where and when?" Grinning maliciously, he replies "It's called Baphomet's Chain. It will be on display in a gallery within 3 weeks time in London. Will you accept this request?" "Sure." comes the reply from the tomb raider. "Good. We will call you a day before the event to pass on a drop off location and details. We will be staying nearby in one of the luxurious hotels nearby so it shouldn't be hard to find. Have a good day Ms Croft." Putting the phone down, she looks up to the bewildered men and smiles, saying "Before you ask, we have been given a rather interesting job by a Mr Bennett. We need to get back something of his that will be on display in a gallery in a few weeks. Zip, I'm going to need you to drop the current artefact and dig up some data on this one. If you get a hold of anything, forward it to me in the library."

Heading off towards the library, the two still confused men look at each other as if to glean the same answer they required off of each other before going off to their separate tasks.


	10. Chapter 10

**A/N: I can't believe I hit over 2,000 words on the last chapter! Will try to keep that up in future. Sorry if everything in the last chapter seemed rushed, just wanted to get the show on the road without dragging it out. Gah, I'm in suspense just writing this chapter!**

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><p>To Kurtis, the three weeks seemed like forever. Not knowing what to do or when the information was due to arrive made him all the more tense.<p>

He had four days left in which to prepare, even going so far as to hire out a suit for the evening, although he decided to go tie-less not liking the restriction around his neck when working. Having all essential weaponry to hand, he finds means and ways to hide them so as to avoid suspicion if he got caught. He also made time to meditate, to strengthen his abilities for if and when he needed them. The day of the exhibit arrives, and it just so happens that his wish to extinguish his anxiety for the information is granted. Slid through the letter box, the large envelope falls to the floor with a thud. He dashes over, picking it up and tearing it open with haste. Looking through it all, it comes as no surprise that he relaxes; this being almost no different to what he was used to doing.

To make himself look somewhat presentable, he showers and but doesn't shave, deciding to leave a very slight layer of stubble adorning his chin and jawline. Putting on his suit and relatively clean boots on, not one to wear suave, sophisticated shoes like everybody else. Before leaving, he takes one last look in the mirror, satisfied that he looked OK, compared to what he usually looked like. At this point in time, if any woman saw him walk past, they would literally be swooning over him. Sitting on his bike he drives off, the location of the display gallery firmly planted in his mind.

Evening arrives, he looks at his watch, happy that he has made for plenty of time to survey the area on arrival. Having driven without a helmet, his hair was dishevelled to its utmost although this doesn't faze him, he can simply ruffle back into a tidier state when he go there. Slowing his bike to a crawl and then switching it off, he pushes it down an alleyway near to an exit. Walking around the pavements to the main entrance, he looks around the gallery for the anonymous caller's property, only to find it isn't on the main floor. Mind made up, he peacefully walks up the stairs along with the other guests, trying his hardest to look as inconspicuous as possible. Having no luck he tries the next floor, finding a small gathering people and a bar. Making his way over, he orders a glass of water, wanting to keep a clear head for the task at hand.

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><p>For the past three weeks, the trio at the manor had worked almost tirelessly to dig up any information on this chain they had been asked to reclaim for the mystery caller; only to meet dead ends due to its rarity.<p>

On the morning of the the gathering, she hires out a chauffeur with a car to relieve Winston of any driving duties. Knowing that there were going to be people of respectable titles attending the display, she decides on wearing a rather elegant albeit practical black dress, with heeled shoes that were stable enough to carry her in case she had to become a little more athletic for whatever reason. Taking a handbag with her to conceal all necessary equipment that Zip hands to her, they test out the audio and video equipment first, going from inside the manor, to the gardens outside to find that everything works as it should.

Evening approaches and the hired vehicle pulls up to the manor, the chauffeur getting out to open the door for a smartly dressed woman. Stopping at the door to the large overbearing home of the tomb raider, she looks back at Winston and Zip, giving the long time elderly family friend a hug for luck. Looking at Zip, Lara asks "Zip? Is everything OK?" Noticing the look of concern on her face he replies "Yeah. I'm just a little unsure of the situation. Something seems off to me." Laying a hand on her trusty geek's shoulder, she reminds him that she will deal with everything as it comes. "Don't worry about me. Just make sure that you're about" she says as she taps the bud in her ear which she had been reminded to switch on the moment she arrives at the gathering. To cheer up her friend, she asks "How do I look?" gently spinning around to give them a proper look at her attire. She had decided to leave her hair down to hide the ear bud, despite not being able to see it due to it's size. In her bag, she carried her PDA, a handgun with a detachable silencer to assist in rather sour situations, and a small selection of make-up in case she needed to genuinely freshen up and to also play it safe if she were to be searched. Last but not least, a spare hair band just to keep her mane out of the way and a broach pinned onto her dress to give Zip a visual on where she is.

Leaving the two men standing in the doorway to wave her off, she enters the car as the chauffeur closes the door for her and gets into the drivers seat. It always bewildered Zip as to how much she could fit into her bags. They were small, but Lara could fit almost twice as much as the capacity would allow. Unable to come up with an answer, he shrugs it off, smiling and waving with Winston as Lara was driven off.

The streets were full of people dressed with distinction. Ladies in dresses that almost touched the floor, and men in the finest suits, not a single person looked out of place. Security typically dotted everywhere outside and inside the building on various floors. Upon closer inspection however, some of Bennett's men had been interspersed amongst the large crowd, dressed like the regular security. One of them had already radioed in Kurtis' arrival, they just had Lara to go. Almost as if on cue, a car drove around the corner of the street. Climbing out of the drivers side, the chauffeur opens the back passenger door for Lara to emerge from. As she walks onto the pavement, the chauffeur gets back in and drives off to find a place to park, not knowing that he may not be needed again that evening. At the same time, she walks into the gallery, unaware that one of the security guards had also called in to let Bennett know that she has also arrived. From the other end, Bennett replies "This ought to be rather interesting. These two have no idea that they have been pitted against each other, do they? Keep me updated."

Walking along the main floor of the gallery, she noted familiar faces and names to go with them. So many different findings encased in glass displays attracted her attention. She fiddles with her ear piece, placing her hair back innocently and turns on the small button located on the front of the broach so Winston and Zip can see what is happening. "Testing. Zip can you hear me?" she mutters quietly. "We can hear you fine Lara. Looks pretty fancy there." "It is. So many valuable collections on display, such a shame they aren't back at the manor" she jokes. "So, come across any information you can pass on?" she asks, curious to know the situation on all floors. "It's guarded. There's security on every floor, although they are dotted around so it should make it a tad easier for you." "Key word being 'tad', Zip. Do you still have access to the circuit so I can get the chain?" "Certainly do. Just give the signal and I'll work quickly to get everything shut down. However, this will include the lights. Do you think you can manage in the dark?" "Where there's a will there's a way" she responds positively. "Keep me updated." she says, ending the current conversation to mingle with guests.

Working her way up the floors to the gallery, she takes her time to look at everything adorning the walls and in the glass displays.

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><p>Making his way to the bathroom, he checks around to see if anyone else occupies it. Seeing no one else, he closes the door to the cubicle he is standing in and concentrates. Lifting his arms out in front of him, he allows his consciousness to float through the building, going up another floor from where he currently is. Barely breaking a sweat, he can feel that his power was amplified due to the meditation he had done, making his job easier. And there it was, in all its ancient glory in a glass case due to be on show to the public that very evening. This wasn't the only thing he found however, as images of guards roaming around. Dragging his consciousness back to him, he feels less forced back when it had returned than it had done previously. He leaves the cubicle and the bathroom itself to return to the bar and have one last drink, before he goes to get the property of the man who had requested its return.<p>

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><p>"5 minutes Lara." Zip chimes in. Excusing herself from a conversation she was having, she crosses the large room to make her way to the ladies bathroom. Seeing two other women reapplying their make up and powdering their noses, Lara walks into one of the cubicles. She waits quietly as the ladies exit the room and exits the stall. Reaching into her handbag she pulls out her gun and silencer, attaching both to one another, finally checking the magazine and pushing it back into the base of the weapon. Putting it back in her bag, she leaves the room. All she had to do was make her way up to the floor Zip mentioned and bide her time.<p>

It was becoming increasingly clear that the evening was going to be extremely interesting as either were completely unaware of the others' presence.


	11. Chapter 11

**A/N: Didn't want to keep any of you waiting!** **BTW another a/n has been placed at the bottom.**

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><p>Knowing that she only had a 5 minute window to get in, get the chain and get out, she ascends the stairs to the third floor. Peaking around the corner of the room, she sees four security personnel around the multiple displays. Hastily, she leads her eyes to the different glass cabinets until she spots the one she wants to get in to. Committing the correct display to mind, she quietly retreats around the corner, slinking away into the shadows. Breathing deeply, she thinks to herself "That <em>would<em> look good in the manor. Enough about that, it's show-time." She sets the strap of her bag across her chest, allowing it to hang on her other shoulder and her bag to rest against her hip.

At that same point in time, Kurtis, who had taken to sitting at a table in the corner after asking the bartender what time the unveiling was going to happen. He had it all planned out, he was going to use his telekinesis to short circuit the lights and alarms, and hopefully the guards would leave the room unattended. A simple plan, that made good use of the only two doorways in the room – one entrance and one exit. Standing up from his chair, he waves a hand at the bartender as a sign of thanks for the drinks, receiving a nod from him in return. He walks around the corner, not knowing that Lara was only a floor above him and had a head-start.

Fiddling around with her hair band to keep her hair out of the way, she puts a finger to her earpiece to get in contact with Zip. She would only have one reason to do this, and she breathes out as she mutters those four words that will get her adrenaline racing, if only for short time. At that moment in time, Kurtis had positioned himself in the hallway just near the stairs to the next floor.

Lara confidently gives the signal. "Zip. Trip the circuit"

Focusing all his energy, Kurtis tries to trip the circuit as planned, but before he can even do anything of the sort, the lights go out.

People from all floors start to panic and scream as they realise that the darkness has surrounded them. The guards, having noticed and also start to panic, rush down the stairs to the main floor along with all the other guests determined to find out what the problem. Muttering to herself, she jokes, "The organisers of this event were better off hiring chimps than these guys." Taking one final look at the room for any guards who stayed behind, she was satisfied that it was indeed empty. Walking into the room, she asks "Zip, are you one hundred percent sure that the security cameras and alarms for the cabinets are down?" "Absolutely certain Lara" Zip retorts. Taking out her laser pen, she slowly walks to the display cabinet, and once there, starts to carve a hole through the glass big enough to fit her hand and the rather weighty looking chain through. Successfully managing to do so without any hitches, she feels around for the chain, taking it out of the cabinet. Holding onto the pen, she feels a second button on it, and once pushed, it revealed itself to be a mini torch.

Watching the chaotic rush of guests and security personnel, Kurtis decides to take advantage of it,moving amongst the crowd to his goal – the next floor and the cabinet containing the chain. Standing in the exact same spot as Lara was when she spied on the room, he peers around the corner- only to find someone shining a small light down next to the cabinet. The fact that someone had beaten him to it reverberated in his mind.

Shining the small beam of light onto the chain, she feasts her eyes upon the object, closely the markings on the goat like symbol on it. "Zip, are you getting this?" she asks, holding it high enough to line it and the light up with the brooch on her dress. "We sure are Lara."comes the reply from the earpiece. "Can you take a still of the necklace, especially the head of the goat? There are some symbols on there that I would like to take a closer look at without feeling like I'm being hurried." Without hesitation, he responds "Doing so now Lara. There got it. I've taken quite a few shots of it, so you can take a look at it later. Is there anything on the back?" "No, I can't see anything. I'm going to-" " Lara, I don't want to rush you any further but you've got 2 minutes till the lights, CCTV and alarms come back on. It seems that they've already figured out what the problem was." "Right, I'll talk to you on the way back." Turning her light towards the walls she tries to locate the exit, finding it with ease resulting in her turning her light and earpiece off. She takes the broach off of her dress and places the both the it and the chain in her bag, the brooch's usefulness having ended for the evening. She removes her weapon from her bag and plants it in the small, discrete holster she had placed on her thigh during her trip to the ladies room, thankful that she had chosen a dress with a slit in the design.

Taking small, quiet steps towards the person in question, Kurtis looks at what seemed to be a gaping hole in the display glass. As he notices that the other person, who happened to be placing a weapon under what looked like a dress and on the thigh, it was his darned luck that he happened to be 2 steps away from the stranger when his foot clumsily hits the floor a little too hard...and loudly.

Eyes widening at the possibility of someone else being in the room with her, Lara slowly stands herself up straight sensing that person coming into closer contact with her. As if on cue the emergency lights came on, although a little dim, bathing the room in a dark creamy glow that matched the walls.

Stepping right behind the woman, they both can see the slight rise of goosebumps on her skin. To the two competitors, this situation seemed ever so familiar, the setting even more so when he puts his own gun to the back of her neck. Hearts racing, the pair stand almost rooted to the spot.

Downstairs the guests, attendees and guards still panic, worrying about their own safety trying to come up with a solution to the loss of power. Upstairs however, the pieces fall into place. Her heart starts to once again beat erratically as the stranger behind her starts to trail his hand down her side, slowly sliding down the only side of her hips that wasn't burdened with the position and weight of the bag. Gently moving over her hip, she slides his hand along her thigh, trying to locate the gun he saw being hidden. Finding the slit of the dress on the middle part of her thigh, he moves it aside and relieves her of what seemed to be her only defence. Closing her eyes for a mere moment as he throws her weapon on the floor, she slowly reaches for her bag, only for a large rough hand to take a hold of her arm.

Roughly spinning the female around to face him, the look on their faces just cannot be properly described; the only word coming to mind would be wide-eyed shock. She was just as beautiful as the last time he saw her. He was just as attractive as when she last saw him.

"What are you doing here?" the British and American accents mix together, asking the same question. "I was hired by some guy who wanted some fancy jewellery back" Kurtis answers. Eyebrows knitting together in confusion, she responds, "So was I. English accent?" "Yep." comes the sturdy reply. "Looks like we've been pitted against one another to see who was more reliable at getting their hands on it. So, who's going to hand it over to him?" he finishes. An awkward silence graces the room once more, searching for an answer from the two. It gets one in the form of Lara reaching to knock the gun out of Kurtis' hand - something which she fails at tremendously as he grabs her hand to spin her around, her back against him and her arms crossed against her chest to prevent her from lashing out.

It's only when they hear the stomping of boots coming up the stairs do they freeze for a moment, trying to figure out a calm, civilized way of sorting this problem out. "OK Lara, only one of us is going to get away with this and claim that reward." "They certainly are." she says, smirking as a plan quickly forms in her head. She throws all appropriate feminine behaviour out of the window, throwing her head back to head butt Kurtis in the face. His grip loosens as he tries to nurse his sore face and she manages to scramble free. Going to punch the gun out of his hand once again, she succeeds, only for him to use his telekinesis to throw her up against the wall, winding her. This doesn't last long however, as she manages to kick out at him; her knee landing in a place that, for a man, it should _never_ land. Finding herself free of any more restraints, she sweeps his legs out from underneath him. With Kurtis on his side, she daintily leaps over him to retrieve her weapon and stuffs it back in her holster; only to have her leg pulled on by him. Landing painfully on the floor, she grimaces, the pain shooting through her arm. Rolling over on to her side, she looks back at Kurtis who is trying his hardest to get back up, only to be kicked straight in the chest and floored once again.

She quickly gets up and stands in the exit, looking back at Kurtis and proclaiming "I wasn't in it for the money", after which she smiles and runs off. Making her way to the fire exit, she runs to the main street, passing Kurtis' bike on the way. She runs around, desperately looking for her transport and a quick getaway. Meanwhile, having recovered from the beating he was given for the artifact, he quickly sprints out of the exit just as the security guards enter the room. He quickly leaves via the same fire exit Lara used and jumps on his bike, determined to find her and reclaim his prize.

Having almost yelled at the driver to get her away from the area as quickly as possible, she plugs her earpiece in and switches it back on. Frantically, she calls out. "Zip? Are you there?" For a moment, there was complete silence, then "Yeah Lara, we can hear you. What happened back there? You sound out of breath?" "I'm fine. I've got the chain and ran into someone I know. We had to fight for it, but I won in the end" she says, smiling triumphantly. "Where are you know?" he asks. "I'm on my way home and I expect some company. I need you to be ready to open and close the gate at a moments notice." It's not long before she can hear Kurtis' bike behind her, being pushed to the max to try and keep up with the car. With the manor in sight, she tells the driver her escape plan and for him to drive away with haste. Winding down the window, she looks out to see Kurtis only twenty five metres behind. Smirking, she winds the window back up. Taking her shoes off and carrying them in one hand, she readies herself for the next part, her hand resting on the door handle. With the car driving past right outside the manor, she opens the door and jumps out and lands on the hard ground, holding the bag tightly to her stomach to protect its contents. Hearing the bike approach at a rapid rate, she scrambles to her feet and runs across the stones and aggregate placed in the drive; grimacing as her feet are tortured by the uneven rocky surface.

Shouting, she orders Zip to open and close the gate. "Zip now!" As she pushes her legs to carry her faster, the gate opens as she slows down to a jog. Asking Zip to close the gate, the driver of the offending vehicle slows said transport down to avoid crashing into the gate. Standing a fair distance behind the gate, her chest rises and falls hurriedly as she tries to catch the breath lost on the way in. In front of the gate sitting on his bike, Kurtis stares at her, angrily clenching his jaw.

Time for plan B.

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><p>Trying to create a diversion to what he really wants to do, he drives off. Buying the sound of the bike thundering off into the distance, Lara walks back into the manor, an anxious Winston and Zip waiting at his computer area. Once up the stairs she enters the library, placing her bag on the table near the window and finding a place to rest herself for while,laying her shoes on the floor. She only gets an hour to rest however, as Zip yells as loudly as he could possibly manage "Lara! Lara, we've got company!" Her eyes flash open, and getting up, she rushes down the stairs towards Zip's computer area to look at the footage. "Looks like he's back for another thrashing. Zip, get yourself and Winston to a safe place, preferably the hidden passage next to the library." With that they make haste, Zip trying his hardest to help Winston get a move on, leaving Lara to grab her grappling hook device.<p>

Parking his bike up at the gates, Kurtis jumps off not bothering to use his farsee ability, instead opting to using brute force to get the chain back. He leaps over the various hedges and bushes, and at one point, trips up due to his leg getting caught. Hurriedly striding over to the front door, he sees it open ever so slightly and begins running over to it. Pushing it forward even more, he looks into the entrance hall and out of the corner of his eye, he watches as she disappears into one of the many rooms.

This was going to be one _very_long night.

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><p>She quickly runs into the place which has allowed her all the years to build her strength and agility up – the training room. Gathering all the strength she could muster, she vaults and climbs up, using her grapple to hook onto the walls and swing over to various handholds in the wall. Making her way to the alcove above the entrance to the room, she lays in wait for her victim. Timed to perfection, he runs right in, looking around to see if he can spot her. Quietly she hangs from the bar positioned outside the alcove, mentally praying that she can land on him without taking too much damage. "3...2...1..." she counts to herself, releasing her grip on the bar and plummeting down towards Kurtis. It's only when he senses a disturbance in the area that he turns around and looks up to see something falling towards him. Unable to gather a second to think properly, the object lands on him heavily, before diving into the pool and through the small tunnel. Grumbling due to the pain, he gathers that the tunnel leads to the room next door.<p>

Running off in pain which he tried to mentally subdue, he goes through the next door and finds himself in the pool area. Carefully treading over, he looks in, only to find whatever it was had not arrived. Dripping wet, she quietly closes the swimming pool rooms' door and tiptoes, peering around the corner to see Kurtis looking into the pool. Silently like a predator, she creeps up behind him, a massive grin on her face as she tries hard to control her laughter. Sensing another disturbance only too late, he tries to turn around, only to see Lara holding her arms back and push them forward sending him flying into the pool. Walking backwards towards the exit, she blows a kiss to him as his head pops out of the water. This only fuels his rage as she runs off. He battles against the water to catch up with her as she runs up the stairs. Thankful that he wore his boots, he manages to catch up with her, practically on her tail as the water weighs both of them down.

Bursting through the door to the corridor leading to her bedroom, he pushes harder finally managing to tackle her to the ground. Struggling free from his grip, he grabs her leg and lifts her up, trying to avoid the punches and slaps aimed his way as she hooks her legs around his waist. Having enough of this, he tries to oppress the hits flying his way by running both her and himself into the rather old and important grandfather clock. Not that he cared, it wasn't his and it looked like it was about to fall to pieces with the cracks situated all over it. Feeling slightly dazed from being driven into the clock, she blinks trying to catch her breath and aims a well placed punch to Kurtis' jaw, stunning him. Dashing away from him she pushes her bedroom door open and fails to close it as he pushes through. Having no where else to run, she locates a flower filled vase and launches both the flowers and vase at him, which he narrowly misses after ducking out of the way. Meanwhile, hearing the sound of various bits of of furniture being flung and hitting the wall and floor, Zip and Winston can only worry. "I think it's best if we moved from here. We can hole ourselves up in the music room for the time being." Zip suggests as they move out quietly.

Making one final move to end the confrontation, she pushes him back with all the strength she can gather and tackles him to the floor, landing on top of him. Straddling his hips, she fights off his hands and holds his hands above his head. Their chests heaving due to over exertion, they stare at each other as if to ascertain the next move.

Angry lust fills the room as continue to stare at each other. Not knowing that her head was slowly dipping in closer, he wrestles his arms free and brings her head closer to him, their lips meeting furiously. One of his hands leaves her face as it moves towards her thigh, once again relieving her of her weaponry, throwing it aside. Grabbing a hold of the collar of his suit, she brings him towards her, sitting him upright. Slowly sliding his jacket off, it lands with a heavy thump, signalling that he also had a offensive object in his possession. Not that she cared at that particular point in time. As she gently pulls away for air, his lips chase hers, determined to stay in contact. The driving force between their previous passionate encounter had returned, albeit in a rather violent form if the destruction throughout the house and Kurtis' now ripped shirt is anything to go by.

As the flames quietly dance in the fire place, she finds herself being picked up by Kurtis, her legs hooking around his waist once again. Gently placing her on the bed, he climbs on with her, both relishing the comfort the floor failed to offer them. The pair had completely forgotten the aches and pain they had inflicted on one another. Running her hands over his bare back, she slowly glides her fingertips over what felt like more scars, presumably from the work he had done over the past few months. Running her hand lower, he breathes in deeply as chills run up his spine, while she faintly runs her fingers over the largest of the scars, the only one familiar to them both. Switching positions, he sits her on his lap, his lips searching hers out once again as she drapes her arms over his shoulders and around his neck.

The feeling of sweetness and intimacy never once left the room.

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><p><strong>AN: I didn't bother seperating the paragraphs as much as I usually do as it was all mainly action from both points of view combined. It may also help if you've seen Mr and Mrs Smith (the one with Brad Pitt & Angelina Jolie.) The main fight scene in the middle of the movie was hilarious X-D**


	12. Chapter 12

**A/N:Good grief that was one hell of a chapter! Question is, what happens the next? Once again, I thank en-lumine and nemesis for the reviews =). Would also like to thank Angy1996 for the kind words!**

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><p>The pouring rain announced the arrival of the next morning.<p>

Back in the music room, Zip and Winston had stayed up all night waiting for it all to blow over, when Winston asks "Do you think it's safe to leave now?" "I think so. It's been quiet for a while now. Fancy getting some breakfast?" This had cheered up the older man, who wanted nothing more than to return his duties. Leaving the corridor of the music room, they look around, unable to notice anything looking out of place. The main hall had been untouched, unlike the small corridor to her room.

Fidgeting in her bed to get a little more comfortable, Lara opens one eye to scan the window and eventually the room. Realising the daylight streaming through only meant that she had to do one thing – feel the empty space next to her.

Except, there was no empty space.

A body radiating warmth had its arm resting over her waist also started to fidget, breathing deeply as it relaxed once again. Holding the covers to her chest as she sits herself up, Lara gently turns over to look at him, taking in the sight of Kurtis' bare chest rising and falling. Feeling her eyes on him, he lulls his head to one side, opening one eye to take a look at her. The first thing he sees is her bare back, shifting his eyes to look at her face, resulting in both his and her heart skipping a beat. "Morning." is the only word to leave his mouth, and a small smile graces her face. "Sleep well?" she asks cheekily. Sitting up, he replies sleepily "Certainly did. Don't know how you get out of bed in the morning."

The room was an absolute mess. Broken shards of porcelain, evidence of what used to be a vase littered a small area near the wall next to her walk-in wardrobe. His clothes and boots had been discarded in a messy pile near the bed, her dress, holster and hair band the same. Looking at her naked shoulder which had tormented him ever since he saw it, he places gentle kisses on it, while she gathers the confidence to ask him one question. Gazing over her shoulder, she asks "Why didn't you leave like last time?" Slowly halting the affectionate actions on her shoulder and resting his chin on it, his soul piercing blue eyes stared back at her. "We've both been had by the same person. We both worked hard to get it." he jokes at the last part. Another question pops up in her mind, so she asks it. "What about the reward?" "Don't think I need it now. Besides, working with you is rewarding enough" he says, smirking. Looking on lightly, she smirks as well, a small blush arising from the skin on her cheeks.

Getting out of bed, he searches for his trousers and puts them on, finally looking decent enough to walk around without embarrassment. Picking up his shirt, he walks over to her side of the bed and hands it to her, attempting to ease her possible embarrassment down as well. Slowly walking over to the windows to look outside, he leaves her to put the shirt on. She looks at him, the daylight helping to illuminate the scars blighting his skin, as well as show off the signature masculine curves of his back and the front of his torso. Easing her arms through it, she buttons it up, walking over to her wardrobe to find a pair of shorts and bra, to avoid any possible scandal to roam free in the manor.

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><p>Finally having decently dressed herself, she invites Kurtis back downstairs for breakfast. Careful to avoid any shards of broken porcelain and remnants of the old grandfather clock, the make their way to the kitchen. As they enter, Zip and Winston look on, the latter dropping a piece of crockery on the floor. Zip however can't help but stare on in bewilderment, his mouth laying open slightly agape and spoonful of breakfast balancing perfectly in his hand. Trying to look as innocent as possible, Lara smiles, greeting them "Good morning"; Kurtis stands behind her with one hand in his trouser pocket and the other scratching the back of his head, also smiles. "I'll get a dustpan and brush to clear this up..." Winston remarks, trying to fill the awkward silence. Sitting down at the table, Kurtis asks the most important question of the morning. " So, what's for breakfast?" which results in Zip choking on his breakfast and Lara sniggering, trying her hardest to stifle any further potential laughter. Ten minutes later and Lara had cooked up two plates of scrambled egg and toast, placing the plates and utensils in front of herself and Kurtis. "Oh, almost forgot!" she says, running over to the cupboards to claim two glasses from its containment and a carton of orange juice from the fridge. Walking back over to the table she places them in front of their plates, which Kurtis offers to pour in to her glass first which she nods to.<p>

Not believing what he sees, Zip continues to watch the pair go about eating their breakfast as if nothing happened. Kurtis, feeling Zip's eyes on him just has to ask "You OK...err...Zip was it?" Lara looks up from her plate at Zip, and can't help but giggle mentally at his expression. Zip, who was still completely confused at the entire situation, just nods, replying "Yeah...I'm fine..." still completely bewildered. "Zip, this is Kurtis" she pokes in, in hopes of acquainting the two men. "Nice to meet you" Kurtis says, waving his hand. Curiosity completely takes over his mind, prompting Zip to ask "OK guys, what the hell happened last night?" "What do you mean?" Lara quips. "What do I mean? What do you mean what do I mean? You were both at the gallery last night. Fought. Came back here. Fought some more. Then it all goes quiet! Then you both come down here for breakfast and act as if nothing happened!" Looking at each other as if trying to prompt a reply for the other, Kurtis decides to answer. "Well, I wouldn't say nothing happened" raising his eyebrows at the last part. "We fought, we kissed, we made up" he continues smoothly and simply, causing Lara to sink down and cover her face which was now looking down at the counter, her cheeks completely flushed.

Coming back to the kitchen, Winston clears up the broken plate and dispenses it into the bin, going back out to leave the three alone again.

Disbelief was written all over Zips face, having understood exactly what Kurtis was letting on to. Lara had decided to look up, although the flushed effect still clung to her face. Kurtis looked on, a triumphant smirk adorning his face.

Wanting to clear the atmosphere, Lara tells Zip what had actually happened. Getting halfway through, she continues "...I got back here and Kurtis had arrived shortly after. I ran towards the gym, and he followed. Not knowing where I was, I managed to drop down on him from the alcove. You know, the one above the doorway?" to which Zip nods. She continues" I dived into the pool and swam through the tunnel. Kurtis clearly knew where it lead to, so he followed the drier route through the manor. What I didn't do was go all the way through, so I came back out and followed his footsteps and lets just say he got a little soggy" she ends mischievously. "As I remember, you snuck around, lay in wait and pushed me in." Kurtis butts in, wanting to have his side of the story heard. Smiling, she continues "Anyway, I ran off to my room, not expecting him to have caught up by then. I looked back, and there he was right behind me. I got tackled, stuff got broken and that's pretty much it." she finishes, wanting to spare the details of what exactly happened afterwards.

The air finally feeling clearer, Zip responds "I see. So what, you two got given the same task then?", the both of them nodding in reply. "Must be pretty important if the pair of you both got given the task of reclaiming it." he ends. "That's what we thought. We'll try to get some more information on it later after we've cleaned up the mess." she says. Raising an eyebrow, Kurtis looks at her. "We?" She looks at him and responds "Yes, we. After all, you were the one to tackle me into the clock and caused me to knock into a vase." Not realising most of the damage had also come from his actions, he shrugs and nods. Placing his bowl into the sink, Zip leaves the kitchen, intent on making a start of identifying the engravings on the chain. The two, having finished their breakfast, take their cups and plates to the sink. Kurtis stands behind Lara as she dips her hands into the sink, his hands following hers into the soapy water. Attempting to wash the plates and utensils, she becomes distracted as he moves his lips to her neck, kissing it softly and eliciting a small, almost quiet moan. She tilts her head to try and quash the sensations.

Taking the plates from her hand, he locates a towel to dry them off and stacks them all to one side. Locating another towel, he helps to dry her hands as a silent apology for what he was forced to do due to his client's request. Putting the towel on the counter, he puts one hand in his pocket and the other around her waist, ready to help her clean up the destruction they had left behind in the small corridor. Bringing a large bag and brush, they walk up the stairs to the hallway outside of her room. Opening the bag, they carefully pick up the larger pieces of wood and porcelain, sweeping all the smaller pieces into the bag afterwards. Gently walking back down the stairs with a full bag so as to avoid causing a tear, Lara points towards where he should leave it; she herself hiking the large brush over her shoulder. Placing the brush back in a cupboard in the kitchen, she takes her leave to find something more appropriate that Kurtis' shirt to wear. Seeing them head back up the stairs, Zip yells out "I have a spare shirt and trouser lying around if you want to borrow it." They look at each other apprehension arising as they come to the same conclusion that the message was intended for Kurtis. Giving their thanks, the head upstairs to Zips room first to collect the spare clothing, then return to hers. Handing his shirt back to him, she rifles through her drawers to find a suitable top and boots and puts them on, feeling a little more comfortable. Changing into his temporarily acquired clothing as well, folds them and places them on her bed, finding no other surface to put them on.

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><p>Agreeing on the suggestion that she take him on a small tour of the grounds, she starts with the gardens, heading to the music room and moving on to the armoury afterwards. As the evening approaches, they end in the library where she left her bag that contained the chain. Carefully taking it out, she dangles it off of her hand for a proper look. "I think it's best it we go and see Zip and see what he has managed to dig up so far." Nodding, he follows her down the stairs and towards Zip's computer area. Typing away diligently, he only takes a moment to glance up at the pair before resuming with his work. Winston, seemingly back to his old self and completely oblivious as to what really happened the previous night, shuffles in from the kitchen, a tray with a cup of coffee resting on it for Zip. Prepared for any answer Zip gives, she asks "Found anything yet?" a note of back-to-business in her voice. "I've only come up with this so far." he says, showing her the printouts of information, words and images running down the length of the page. "It's going to take a little while longer. Maybe you could take a look at a few books, see if they can give us anything." he finishes. "Zip, can you print out copies of what you have so far so we can take them up to the library with us? We'll see if we can come up with anything that can help clarify what you've already found." With the copies filing out of the printer, she takes them with her and signals for Kurtis to follow her. "I'm just going to grab my bike and pull it up in the drive. I'll be back in soon." he says, running off into the descending darkness of the manor's grounds<p>

As they say, two heads are better than one.

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><p>Back at his base of operations, a less than displeased Bennett sits at his desk, not having heard anything from either of them the previous night. The head of his assault team stands by, awaiting his orders. "Prepare to lead your men out. Tonight, that chain will be back in my possession and so will the head of the tomb raider and her demon hunter accomplice.<p> 


	13. Chapter 13

**A/N: Time for the next chapter folks! I stayed up late again to get this finished 0_0; Quick shout out and smooshy hugs to some reviewers:**

**CrazyLara:- I'm glad you enjoyed it. Don't worry about the reviews! School work always comes first unfortunately =/**

**Jessica151294:- Thank you!**

**en-lumine:- I'm so glad you enjoyed it! I'm even more glad with how it turned out! I wanted to make sure that the chapter had a bit of comedy in it too to keep the mood light!**

**nemesis:- Poor Zip had no idea until Kurtis told him! Winston was completely oblivious too X-D**

**Angy1996:- Thank you too!**

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><p>Checking over their weapons, the team of 30 plough into the back of the van slamming it shut hurriedly. With the van speeding towards the manor, the head of the assault team sits himself among them and gives out the orders. "Stay low, keep each other covered, maintain radio silence and shoot to kill. Mr Bennett wants their heads, so we'll give 'em to him." Two hours later, and they had arrived, pulling up amongst the shrubbery to hide the van.<p>

Walking outside the manor, he heads towards his bike which had to be parked outside the gates due to him chasing down Lara. Pushing it back in, he notices something out of the corner of his eye – something that looked like the side of a black van. Presuming it to be Zip's, he walks back the short distance with his motorcycle. Resting it on it's side stand, he strides back in to the manor, the van still striking up a suspicious fire in his mind. Walking over to Zip, he asks "Zip can you do me a favour?" "Sure. What is it?" He responds, looking up at Kurtis. "Do we have any surveillance outside the gates? I thought I saw something out there when I brought my bike back, but I can't be sure." Scanning their eyes over every current screenshot of the cameras, they notice people walking around. "Don't see anything out of the ordinary. Vehicle probably just broke down." Zip concludes, satisfied that all seemed fine. Looking closely, Kurtis cautiously points out "No wait, take another look. There's more of them." Upon further inspection, they watch as men clad in black tactical gear gather around in front of an individual also wearing the same uniform. Zip and Kurtis' eyes widen as they watch the men ready their weapons.

"Everything OK?" Lara asks, walking down the stairs from the library. "We've got company. Bennett's men are outside, looks like they've come to collect and they're armed to do so." Kurtis retorts. "We'll they've come looking for a fight, let's give them one. I'm not about to give the artifact that Bennett wants to get his hands on up so easily. Zip, take an earpiece with you and get yourself and Winston to safety now." Fiddling through the drawers in his desk, he quickly passes one to Lara and one to Kurtis. "Zip wait!" Lara yells, her voice echoing from the weapons room. Rushing back, she gives over a handgun and shotgun with a box of ammunition for each. "Take these, just in case." "Don't you think the shotgun is a bit overkill?" Zip asks. Lara smiles, leaving him with a cryptic message "I don't think so. I think you'll be surprised." Winston walks over worried as to why they had gathered. "We've got company again Winston. Here, take these" Zip says, handing over the larger weapon of the two to him.

As Zip and Winston head off to the passage they hid in the last time the manor was under attack by Kurtis, he and Lara place their own earpieces in and head off to the armoury. Picking out weapons suitable for the incoming siege, she wraps her trademark holsters around her hips and thighs. Grabbing a fabric strap, she attaches it to one of her most favoured machine guns and pulls it over her head, draping the strap across her torso so she can access it easily. Unable to find something suitable to holster his borrowed guns in, he shoves them into his waist band, doing the same with a long ranged weapon. She quickly glances at him, raising an eyebrow at the placement of his handguns. Catching her gaze, he asks "What? I've got nowhere else to put them!" Smirking at his answer, she hands him some ammunition, which he gratefully takes. Doing the same with hers, they stand at the top of the steps.

"Our best bet would be to ambush them. If we can-" The sound of a window being smashed accompanies the falling of the stained glass window above them. Covering their heads with their arms, attempt to move away from the stairs. "- just get to the landing on that side! I'll get over to that one -" she points him over to the walkway outside the library. Rushing over to their appointed spots, they try to hide behind the large columns that hold the ceiling and roof of the house from collapsing. Kneeling down on one knee, she gets herself into place, hands hovering over her guns, ready to fire at the first person to appear through the large gaping hole in the wall. Kurtis finds himself at both an advantage and disadvantage as he hides behind the large overbearing wall that houses the chimney.

Suddenly, a rope passes in a downward action outside the window and a man glides down it. He however drops off it, a bullet flying directly to the middle of his forehead courtesy of Kurtis. Lara quickly glances his way, returning to face the shattered window as another 2 drop down on their own ropes. Quickly dragging her guns out of the holsters, she fires two well placed shots; one in the neck, the other in the head of both enemies. Eleven more follow through in quick succession, unaware of the pair's positions in the manor. Rushing through the recently made hole in the wall, the quickly locate Lara and Kurtis, apparently having the advantage with their semi automatic weaponry. This proves to have no effect on the pair, as they pick off the incoming members of the assault team. In the midst of the battle, more smashed glass comes from the ceiling, the rest of the team swing down through the newly destroyed ceiling intent on finally taking care of the two.

Noticing more men in the manor, Kurtis picks off the last from his side and fires towards Lara's side. Seeing Kurtis take out those coming towards her, she fires off rounds at the enemy on the ground floor, luckily taking out three at once. Feeling the brunt of Kurtis' attack, several members of the unit quickly converge on him, backing him up into the corner. Having no other choice, Kurtis makes a dash for the library, using the doorway of the corridor leading to it as cover.

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><p>Hearing multiple footsteps thundering nearby, Winston and Zip ready themselves. They had decided to stack up the wooden storage boxes around them as make shift cover, just in case they themselves came under fire. Hearing someone burst in through the door and more gunfire, they hastily walk towards the secret entrance in the library and open it, thankful that it hadn't made a sound. Noticing something slide open and reveal nothing but darkness, Kurtis carries on retreating until he stops at the desk. Taking once last glance as he turns around, guns drawn towards the one individual enemy that had survived his assault, he sees Zip and Winston. Putting his finger to mouth to stop Kurtis from giving away their hidden position, he directs his attention to the enemy. Watching the man approach his target slowly, Zip and Winston stand ready to fire...only for Zip to press the trigger and alert the enemy when nothing happens. Shifting his position, he turns towards the once hidden men, his finger ready to press down on the trigger. Winston however, thinks against the idea of dying in such a way, and fires off a round from his shotgun. The man topples to the floor, a hole evident in his armour.<p>

Surprise is etched across Zips face, completely unaware the older man could even fire a weapon. "So that's what Lara meant" he thinks to himself. "Nice shot old man" Kurtis says, impressed that Winston could defend himself well. Nodding his thanks, it comes across his mind that Lara was defending the main area where the artifact was by herself. "What about Lady Croft?" he starts, reminding Kurtis that he had left her behind. "Oh man!" he responds, rushing through the door with Zip and Winston in tow.

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><p>Back in the main hall, the injured bodies of the assault team lay spread on the black and white tiled floor. Reaching the last clip of ammo for her handguns, she throws them aside and reaches for her machine gun. In her hands, it was a capable piece of equipment and it wasn't about to fail her now. She takes out the men encroaching from the lower stairwell, while the others trash the computer area in search of the chain. Rapidly taking them out, she aims for the other side where Kurtis was last seen, trying to scare off anyone left from the unit. Taking aim at the men downstairs, she fires of a dozen rounds to do the same to them, resulting in the glass wall breaking and showering those behind it. Out of the corner of her eye, she notices one of the opposing side pop out from hiding, only to be hit in the chest with several bullets from her weapon.<p>

Having found what they were looking for, they make a dash for the front door of the manor under her heavy fire. A few men were left on the balcony opposite her, being taken out on by one until they had all fallen. Hearing the gunfire wear off, Zip opens the door only to be accidentally shot at by Lara. Noticing her mishap, she mouths a 'sorry' in his direction, only for him to nod back wide eyed with his hands held up in surrender. Winston and Kurtis file out of the room as well standing side by side with Zip. Smiling as she sees they are unhurt, she has completely forgotten about the one last individual enemy that has lowered the gap between himself and her. Spinning around to face him, she aims and pulls the trigger twice, only to find that she has run out of ammo.

Finally having a shot at the tomb raider, he aims his rifle and is stopped when he is shot in the head, the bullet flying through his skull. Having closed her eyes and thrown up her hands when she heard the gunshot, she opens them to see the man out cold on the ground. Looking over to the other landing, she sees Kurtis still standing in a shooting position. "Thanks" she responds. With a cold breeze now entering the manor, they sweep the ground floor for anyone else, before walking over to the now demolished computer area. Carefully moving various parts of gadgetry aside, they search for one of the things the assault team came for. A look of worry appears on her face as the worst becomes apparent. "They've got it. They've taken the chain." Each of them look down or sigh, feeling their actions having been done in vain.

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><p>Pulling up two stools and two bowls full of warm water, Zip and Winston dry up the injuries Kurtis and Lara had sustained during the nights events. Wrapping a bandage around her arm, Winston takes care to remember the first aid training he had received years ago. Still feeling that she had failed, she speaks up. "They've trashed the house, the computer area and possibly all the information we had worked so hard on getting. We've got nothing to work from now." "Oh I wouldn't say nothing" Zip pokes in. With everyone's eyes on him, Zip pulls five memory sticks out of his pocket, practically untouched by the siege.<p>

Her eyes light up and a smile appears on her face at the apparent turn of luck. "Zip, you are absolutely amazing do you know that?" This results in Zip smiling happily at this small victory, despite knowing that he had messed up back in the library.

Closing the door to the manor, they all decided to catch whatever sleep they can so they can prepare for the tidy up in the morning.


	14. Chapter 14

**A/N: Thank you for the reviews even though the chapter didn't turn out how I wanted it to! Anyway, on with the story. What happens next?**

*****_A little side note – this chapter may seem a tad short compared to the 2 or 3 previous chapters. Just haven't had the time to get anything done due to work schedules changing constantly. I may end up spending most of my days off writing chapters in advance, just to see if it helps with release times._*****

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><p>The van arrived back in the compound owned by Bennett, carrying less people in it that before.<p>

Whatever was left of the team opened the doors and exited the vehicle, tired and worn out from the nights' events. They dragged their exhausted bodies towards Beckett, who looked on without thought or remorse about the lack of returning men. To him they were expendable assets, they just didn't know it. "Here it is Sir" the head of the team said, handing over the chain to his boss. "Most of our men had been badly injured or killed. We got out with what we could" he continued.

His eyes gleamed with malicious joy as he handled the ancient piece. "What of the tomb raider and her friends?" Bennett asks, curious to know of their fate. "They survived, but most of their equipment was destroyed. I doubt they have any research material left. I found all of this on the desk along with that" the man finished, dumping the various pieces of torn or dirt covered paper on the desk. Showing little interest in the pile of papers, he reaches over and picks three pages up, sparing a fleeting glance at each. Throwing the pages back on to the desk, he dismisses the unit of men, pleased that the chain was back in his hands.

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><p>After they had finished breakfast, the four current residents of the manor could see that the damage done was beyond what they had imagined. More broken vases could be seen and the handrail aligning both sets of stairs, along with various tables dotted throughout the manor, were littered with bullet holes or had legs missing. The largest area of damage could be seen where the computer area had once stood.<p>

Zip can only look on in dismay as they survey the damage. Seeing the upset features on Zip's face, Lara tells him "I'm sure we can get brand new equipment Zip. As long as the information is on those devices, we've got nothing to worry about." She gently lays a reassuring hand on his shoulder, to help him get over the destruction as quickly as possible as his expertise was needed. "If need be, we can quickly order all the replacement equipment and glass wall before we start the clean up" she suggests, a large smile now reaching both sides of his face. "That'd be a good idea if we want to catch up with Bennett and find out what he's up to." Nodding in agreement with him, Lara quickly walks up the stairs with Zip and heads to the library, where the only remaining laptop was situated.

Having gone outside to get a wheelbarrow to help sift the damage, Kurtis walks through and rests it down on the ground. Winston had gone off to find as many bags and brooms as he could possibly carry on his person and handed one to Kurtis, initiating the clean up. Walking back down the stairs, both Lara and Zip pick up the remaining brooms and get to sweeping as well, noting that more hands there are, the quicker the jobs gets done. Having filled every single bag and double bagging those with glass in them, Lara calls for them to be taken away Three hours and dozens of bags later and the lorry had been loaded with the remains of what had been ruined in the manor. Settling themselves in the kitchen for cups of tea or coffee and sandwiches made courtesy of Winston, the four sit around and plan the next step.

"Winston, you can rest for now. The rest is pretty much working through what information we've got with us." "If you need me Lady Croft, I will be downstairs" he smiles, walking off to finally sit himself down on the only things that hadn't been touched by the fire fight – the sofas.

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><p>Finally having made their way to the library, Zip sits himself in the main chair at the desk, Lara and Kurtis dragging other chairs to sit either side of him. After it had fully booted up, he plugs one of the memory devices into the appointed slot and opens up the folders and files on it. They go through each piece of date presented to them on the screen, coming to the same conclusions each time. Only when they get to the last date stick do they find something extremely interesting.<p>

"Wait, stop there Zip What's that about leylines?" she blurts out, pointing at the screen. "Man, you guys managed to get your hands on a lot more information that I did" Kurtis says. She looks at him, eyebrows knitting together. "What do you mean?" she asks. "Bennett sent me some information on the chain, but none of it comes close to being this detailed" he concludes. "Well we did work on this for three weeks almost non-stop, and we still had no full idea about what it was other than a chain" she says. Scrolling down the screen, Zip adds "I found some stuff about leylines and how they linked various landmasses. Nothing much else popped up on that though. However I did search around the name Baphomet and all this came up." Pointing at the screen, typical imagery of goats and pagan icons mapped themselves in an orderly fashion, giving way through the pages for the worded information to make an appearance.

Getting up, she locates a couple of books dedicated to historical and religious images. Sitting herself back down, she flicks through both books, one after the other, until she comes across similar images to the goats and one particular picture stood out with a small caption underneath. It mentioned certain symbols and icons being worshipped since the Crusades, especially the one that resembled a man's body with a goats head called the Goat of Mendes. The information Zip had dug up was starting to come together, the small links between the data threading themselves to each other.

Prying around for more content, Zips starts "Looks like Bennett has been a busy beaver with this chain and leyline business." Looking over, Kurtis sees something that catches his eye. "What's that about Templars?" Scrolling further down, it becomes even more clearer to him. Lara and Zip look at him, anxious to know what was wrong. "That can't be right. The Lux Veritatis were an off shoot of the Knights Templar, until they were killed off by Philip IV and the church. The few that were left spread out across the globe and, from what I know, became Freemasons." "Go on" Lara pokes in, wanting to know more. "Knights Templar groups rarely exist. Unless..." "Unless what?" Zip butts in, becoming even more curious than Lara had. "...Unless they were trying to set it back up with the wrong intentions in mind. The Templars were a noble group of knights trying to protect the holy land. These guys don't seem to be attempting to do that at all" Kurtis finishes.

"So, it sounds like our little friend is planning on doing something at these points where the leylines meet with the chain. We just need to find out what." Lara concludes. "So where do we start?" Kurtis starts, wanting to get back into action quickly. Silence is the only thing that can be heard at that moment in time. Zip knows the answer and yet he doesn't want to tell them, especially Lara as he fears it might scare her off. Looking at him for an answer, she says "Well? Where do we start? I'd like to get on whatever transport we need to get on and get this whole thing under-way as soon as" and turns around to leave the room. Zip stoically answers, "Egypt, Lara. Egypt is the place you need to head to first."

Her eyes widen at the reply she gets. Kurtis, completely oblivious to what happened the last time she visited the country, asks "Everything OK?" Trying to compose herself, she responds "Yes, everything's fine Kurtis."

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><p>Back in his office, Bennett calls his team in, ready to give his orders. "Be ready to head out to Egypt in the morning. The first stage of the operation is ready to be executed."<p> 


	15. Chapter 15

**A/N: Thank you for the reviews! Especially nemesis, a massive thank you to you for your much needed ongoing support! I'm really sorry for the delay as well!**

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><p>It had been quiet over the past couple of days with no one saying anything to anyone.<p>

Zip had been overjoyed at the once empty area now being filled with his beloved technology again. Winston had resumed his duties around the manor, even overseeing the re-installation of the glass wall protecting the device filled area. Working their way through the armoury, Lara and Kurtis hadn't said much, instead only communicating when they found they needed to. Finishing up, they moved over to see Zip and gather the necessary devices they needed to stay in constant contact with him. Zip had already arranged for private transport for them to avoid the unwanted questioning by airport security.

It hadn't taken them long to get to said destination, due to them leaving early to beat the traffic. The idea was most favoured by Lara who always chose the option, always finding herself on time. Going through a few checks with the pilot, they board the plane with their baggage and sit themselves down. The journey was lengthy and boring for the pair, only ever speaking when something incredibly dull or pointless came to mind. Excusing herself to use the bathroom, Kurtis mulls over whether he should ask her about Egypt and why she was so secretive about it. Little did he know that the topic was a sore point for her. Walking back to her seat opposite him, she plonks herself down and rests her arm of the provided arm rest and quietly stares out the window.

"Lara?" he asks, directing her attention from the window to him as an answer. "What happened in Egypt?" "Nothing good. Lets just leave it at that" she swiftly replies, trying to end the conversation. Trying his luck again, he starts "Look, it would be hypocritical of me to say that I've had a less than fantastic past, but-" "But nothing Kurtis! I made it clear that I wasn't going to talk about it." she finished, putting a hand up to state that the conversation was now over, effectively ending his line of questioning. "Look whatever it is, I'm sure you'll get over it soon" he quips, not knowing how wrong he was.

If looks could kill, his brain would be splattered all over the seats of the plane; the injury he received in Prague appearing minuscule at best.

"I'll get over it?" she starts, fury rising high and engulfing the atmosphere around them in the plane. "I was trapped in that bloody tomb with no way out! I was stuck in there for god knows how long, and when I finally managed to get out I dragged my body across miles of desert for days without food or water. Thankfully, a tribe found me and gratefully took me in. I can never forgive Werner for what he did. He left instead of trying to find me. Everyone thought I was dead, only to find that months later I was actually alive, mainly because Werner decided to try and find me" she fumed. Not giving him a chance to even speak, she barrels on "Then that old worm had the nerve to call me years later to ask a favour! Do you think I can get over that? Do you?" pushing the last part out of her body as if to purge it.

This left Kurtis speechless. "Sorry. I didn't know it was that bad." "No, I'm sorry for my outburst" she responds, looking down in shame. "Seems that I just can't get away from past events." Apologetically, Kurtis replies "Seems so. But I know one thing – if you have a strong enough will, you can conquer those demons."

The rest of the journey was spent in a sorry silence.

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><p>"1 hour till touchdown" the pilot calls out. Lara's PDA rings out Zip's voice. "Hey Lara, you there?" Opening it up, she sees a video image of Zip. "Hello Zip. What have you got for us?" she asks, her mood having lightened up somewhat. "I've got the coordinates for the location you're heading to. You may want to use some sort of transport to get yourselves out there though, don't think the pilot will be more than willing to land out in the desert without a landing strip. I'm sending them through to you now." Taking a look at the data they were given, Lara and Kurtis look at the map in relation to the coordinates. "It's right out in the middle of nowhere" he states, Lara nodding in agreement. Quietly pondering on how they can get there, they look up at each other suddenly coming to the same conclusion. "Dune buggies" they say out in unison, a large smile appearing on her face.<p>

A cityscape comes into view as they draw closer to the airport. As the plane touches down on land again and comes to a stop, they pick up their bags and other equipment and leave. Waving the pilot and plane off as it leaves them, they make their way to a coffee shop in order to eat and drink before taking on the task of travelling miles out into desert terrain. The pair sit themselves down at a table with their order and start to dig out the necessary parts that can help them stay in contact with Zip. Placing their ear pieces in simultaneously, she calls Zips name and gets a reply. "I'm here, Everything OK?" "yes Zip, everything's fine, we're just checking to see if everything works this far across the world" she says. "Alright. We'll be heading out in a few minutes to see if we can get out hands on some transport. We'll speak to you soon" she finishes.

Thirty minutes later, fully equipped they set off with their newly acquired two dune buggies. They drive within distance of each other so as to not lose track of where they both were. "How much further?" Kurtis shouts over the roar of the vehicles. "According to the PDA, we've got another five miles until we reach the area" she too shouts, almost unable to hear herself over the sound of the engines.

Looking to bring some excitement to the journey, an idea springs to Kurtis' mind.

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><p>"Race ya!" is the only thing Lara hears Kurtis shout as he speeds off. A look of shock plasters her face, leading to a more mischievous one following after. "You want a race? I'll give you a race!" she says to herself as she too speeds up to catch up with him. For the next 20 minutes, all they did was race, pushing their appointed vehicles harder to try and maintain their lead if they had one. Speeding off ahead, Kurtis' attitude becomes incredibly cocky as he looks behind him to see Lara trying her hardest to keep up, only to find himself coming up short on a sand dune. As his vehicle takes off into the air, he swore he could hear someone laughing – a very female laugh to be precise. Looking over at her buggy, he sees her laughing at his misfortune as she drives off, gaining the lead over him once more. As his vehicle hits the uneven surface of the sand once again, he pushes it to the maximum to try and keep up, aware not to push it too hard in case he damages something.<p>

Having finally caught up with her, he watches as she comes up to her own sand covered obstacle. "I bet you can't cover that!" he yells, confident that she will meet the same fate as he did. However, she was ready for this, and she gracefully drives over the sand dune. The look on Kurtis' face was one of utter defeat as she lands without a hitch. This nonetheless allowed Kurtis to catch up with her, both now on even ground. Looking down at the PDA once more, she announces their imminent arrival. "We're close. Another mile and we'll be there" she shouts in his direction.

Closing in, they can see ruins, old columns from ages past sticking out of the ground, along with whatever plant life had managed to survive. This isn't the only thing they can see. "Is that what I think it is?" Kurtis yells. Squinting, their suspicions are correct as the sight of tents, large draping covers sheltering one area nearby, tables and various other pieces of equipment can be seen on them. Men with rifles and guns patrol around the area. "Dammit! They've beaten us to it" she exclaims.

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><p>Slowing their vehicles down to a halt nearby, they quietly park them within reach if they needed a quick getaway and stealthily run up to a small wall made of rock to hide. Peeking over the wall, they get a closer look at what they were up against. Two men were guarding what looked like a recently man made entrance to an underground tunnel. "Zip? We're going to need a little more help with this" she says, wondering if her technological-minded friend can assist them. "What happened?" come the reply from the other end. "They've beaten us to it unfortunately. We can see that they've dug themselves an entrance to what we're all after, but we don't know if there are any other entrances to the place." "They've got two heavily armed guys guarding the entrance so that's out of the question." Kurtis adds.<p>

"Give me a minute and I'll see what I can find" Zip says, both ends of the line going quiet as he gets to work on an alternative route. "I've got one, but you may have to travel by foot." Zip says after small while. "Go on" she replies, both her and Kurtis wanting to know anything he has managed to come up with. "Can you see the other side of the ruins? If so, that's where you'll need to go" he finishes, leaving the pair to make their way round which, at this point was easier said than done.

"How're we supposed to get around these guys?" Kurtis asks her. "We'll just have to watch their movements as well as ours and try not to make too much noise." she responds. Deciding on timing everything right, they wait to make a move. However, Lara sees an opportunity and runs to the next wall- all without him. Eyebrows knitting together in frustration at her act, he times his run to the same place. "Why'd you run off like that? Do you want them to catch us?" he asks. Smiling deviously at him she quietly reminds him "we've got to get there before they do." He can only shake his head and smile at this. Biding their time, they both run to the next overturned piece of ruin and hide, getting closer to the spoken area. There was only one remaining piece of wall that they could hide behind after this. The only problem now being the distance between both hiding places. The gap was too far apart for the both of them to go and hide at the same time and there was no doubt that the guards would spot them.

"The next wall is too far away for both of us to hide. You go first and I'll keep watch to see if they spot you. Once you're there, I'll follow up and we'll see if we can make a dart for the other side afterwards" Kurtis suggests. Once again nodding in agreement, she takes her time and dashes across to the final wall, steadily quietening her breathing as she hid. Kurtis peeks over the wall, he sees that the guards still haven't noticed their presence. He too dashes across to where Lara is, successfully controlling his heart rate and breathing. She peeks over the obstacle and sees no reaction from the two armed men.

Preparing to make the final run to the spot pointed out by Zip, Kurtis quietly says "After three we'll run for the spot. Ready? 1...2...3" he spits out, both of them making the sprint round. Still having gone unnoticed by the guards, they reach the appointed area. They rest their hands on their knees to catch their breath once more. Looking closely, they can see a door marked into the ruins. "I can't see anything to open this door with" Lara states, brushing her hand against the wall. Calling into see if if there's anything Zip can help with, she asks "Zip, we're at the entrance and can see what looks like a door, but we can't find anything that will open it." Typing can be heard at the other end, however it yields no results. "Sorry guys, I can't find anything. We've got information on the location, but not how to get into it" comes the unfortunate reply. "Don't worry, we'll find a way in somehow. I have an idea." Kurtis says to both of them."Lara, I'll need you to keep watch"

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><p>Placing his arms in front of him, he allows his consciousness to leave his body and walk freely through the door. Seeing nothing but darkness and no buttons or levers with which to open the door, he pulls his consciousness back to him. "I can't see anything to open it with. I'll have to force it open" he adds. Focusing his powers, he forces the door open as Lara keeps watch. As the stone of the door grinds against the frame, Kurtis finally manages to open it. However, this had only alarmed a few guards nearby who decided to investigate. Finding himself slightly breathless, he rests against the wall out of the heat of the sun. He looks on at Lara, who had become frozen to the spot, paranoia awash all over her face as she looks in through the doorway. "Hey Lara, you OK?" he asks, concerned. She doesn't respond to this however, fear trying to wrest control of her mind and body.<p>

Hearing multiple feet dragging along at speed in the sand nearby, he tries to get through to her once again "Lara, I know you're afraid. But right now, we need to get in there otherwise they're gonna find us here." Only her eyes move to look at and acknowledge him. He moves closer into her space and places his hands on her shoulders, feeling her slightly smaller frame shaking. "Lara, you need to fight your demons. If we work together, we can protect each other. I won't leave your side I promise" he solemnly adds. "OK" she says meekly. Taking her by the hand, he leads her in to the darkness. "You might wanna turn your flash light on" he suggests as she rifles through her bag for it. Turning it on, she shines it around the tunnel as he pushes the door closed just as the guards reach the both corners of the site.

Pulling a flash light out of his bag, he too shines it down the tunnel, both of their lights' combining to illuminate the way.

"Right, time to get to work" he says, taking her hand once again as they walk onwards into the darkness.


	16. Chapter 16

**A/N: I am sooo sorry for the delay, too much hoohah taking place! Almost forgot what I writing as well which that didn't help, so I tried to salvage what I could of this chapter. Hopefully it doesn't seem too all over the place. **

**Once again, a big thank you to those who reviewed as well =D**

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><p>Striding through one dark passage after the next, they reach a large cavernous chamber, unreadable symbols adorning the walls.<p>

Emerging from a small hallway, two figures follow the beams of light coming from their flash lights. Walking out on to a platform that lines the room, they travel around to the other side to look for a way down to the ground. "I can't believe you almost left me in that trap" Kurtis starts. Rolling her eyes, Lara turns to him "Drop it already! I had to find a way to stop the door from closing on us. Also, why would I leave you behind?" "Oh I see where this is going. You can't get enough of me can you?" he asks, smirking. "No, we're working together on this remember? So as long as both of us are alive, we work as a team to get to the bottom of this" she finishes.

Thinking back to when they first met, she remembers how driven he was to get justice for what happened to his father. Over the years though, he had just become more cocky. A small smile appears on her face for a short while, but it is soon replaced by confusion and worry as she hears voices coming from the bottom of the room. Looking at her, he asks "What? Lara what's wro-" "Shh" she motions to him, putting her finger on her lips and pointing down to the floor below them. They look down and see light coming from the other side. Men start to walk through and separate In multiple directions. "Bennett's men you think?" Kurtis asks. "I'd have to say upon closer inspection, our little friend has finally caught up. All armed, as per the norm" she swiftly replies, concentrating on the movements below.

They duck down as low as they can to the platform as one guard shines his light in their direction, checking for any disturbances in the area. Peeking over again, they watch as a smaller group of men walk into the room guarding two other men walk further on in to the next area ahead. Checking the area one final time, Kurtis kneels and uses his farsee ability to look further in to the room Bennett is heading to. He gets a full view of the room and sees 3 different pedestals, two of them had different things standing on top. The one in the middle was plain, the one to the left of it had what looked like a stone carving of a goats head with it's mouth open; the other was just a normal plinth with a shape engraved into it.

Bringing himself back to their current position, Lara asks him about what he saw. "Three plinths, two of them have a purpose. It's best if we took a closer look" he says. Looking over the side, she locates a group of vines and grabs hold of them, slowly descending down until her feet touch the floor. Looking around, she quickly locates a hiding place and signals for Kurtis to follow. Catching up with her, they watch as the men stop in the room, their places set in a defensive stance and their backs to the entrance. Peering around the corner, both Lara and Kurtis see two more men standing guard at the entrance Bennett came through. "Are you thinking what I'm thinking?" he asks, her only response being an comprehensive nod.

Quietly tiptoeing around the corner, they line themselves behind their victims as Lara delivers a stunning blow to the back of the guards head. The other weapon bearing man catches sight of this, aiming to take her out and he too receives the butt of Kurtis' gun to his skull. They drag them off to a dark corner to avoid suspicion, with Lara taking out three throwing knives from the pocket of one of the downed men. Quickly taking in every detail they possibly could, certain things stand out to both of them, proving to be an advantage to them tactically. 

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><p>Silently walking to the doorway of the room Bennett was in, they take their positions on both sides of it, ears straining to hear whatever, if anything, was being said. Peering around the doorway the could see Bennett placing the goats head of the chain into the larger statue's mouth, the piece fitting in perfectly. A small rumble could be heard afterwards as something rose out of the plinth with the engraved shape on it, an item now resting in it's place. "We now have the next piece that we require to gain the strength our ancestors once had. All that is left is to locate the last piece-" Bennett said to his men, his voice now trailing off in the distance as Lara and Kurtis whispered to each other. "There's another piece we need to find before they do" Kurtis said. "We best get a move on then. But not before I collect something" Lara replied in the same quiet tone. Grabbing a device from out of her bag, she presses a button and tosses it into the room. "Is that what I think it is?" Kurtis asks. As the smoke grenade hits the floor, every single guard in the room quickly searched for the offending weaponry, only to find themselves reacting too late as it releases the smoke. Lara, who had remembered where the newly revealed stone was, dashed into the room and blindly pushed the men away from her, grabbing the item of interest and ran out. "Holy crap!" can be heard unashamedly leaving Kurtis' mouth. She grabs him and drags him along with her, the both of them making a mad dash to the exit.<p>

At the end of the entrance Bennett's men had found, more guards were making their way towards the pair, the usual routine of checking the area to make sure there weren't any unwanted guests. Noticing movement around their appointed exit, they hide behind two of the many columns situated in the large tunnel. Fiddling around for his silenced gun, Kurtis take aim and dispatch two of the men. Hastily, Lara and Kurtis run up to the next two columns. This however, doesn't go unnoticed by the rest of the opposing unit and they start firing their guns towards the adventurers. Looking her way, Kurtis yells "Cover me", resulting in Lara grabbing her pistols from their holsters and firing off a few rounds to distract them from Kurtis' advancement. As Kurtis takes another man down, Lara manages to take out two more. Getting closer to the exit and to the last of the guards, they hide behind two different pillars. Lara however, loses track of Kurtis' position and peers around the curve of the column.

Ready to fire a few shots off, Lara leaves the protection of the pillar and fires, but the only sound is the clicking of the trigger, meaning an empty magazine. Having seen her misfortune, one of the guards fires his gun at her as she darts back behind the pillar. Bullets ricochet off of the pillar as she holsters her faithful guns. Kurtis also notices this and tries to take down two more, to making use of his excellent marksmanship. Upon this action, Lara tries to think of anything else she could use as a weapon without exposing herself to enemy fire.

"A-ha" is the only sound that leaves her mouth as she reaches into her back pack. Holding on to one of the knives she picked up, she looks around the corner and takes aim at one of the men. As she flings the deadly bladed weapon, it travels through the air and flies true, straight into the head of the enemy as she darts across to hide behind another pillar. 

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><p>Seeing another go down, Kurtis aims only his gun around the corner and fires blindly, resulting in the opposing guard doing the same. Pulling the trigger and hearing only empty clicks meant that both he and the guard were going to have get into a fist fight, not that it bothered Kurtis at all. Dropping their weapons simultaneously, the man throws a left hook towards Kurtis as he blocks any incoming attacks. As she peers around the corner again, she sees both Kurtis and what she assumed was the last of the enemy guards in close quarters combat. "Has he forgotten about me?" she asked herself jovially. She was proved wrong as another came out from hiding, looking to out number her friend. Pulling the last two knives out of her bag, she aims one at the newly revealed guard taking him down. This alerts both Kurtis and his foe, allowing Kurtis to land a rather sickening blow to the guards head. Unfortunately, Lara had also seen this thinking that Kurtis' opponent was about to get the upper hand and had readied the last of the throwing knives.<p>

The moment the guard hit the floor, Lara had launched the knife and hit something...or rather someone.

"Ow!" Kurtis moaned out, looking back at her rather frustratingly. Realising that she had missed her mark completely and hit Kurtis, she mouths out a "sorry." As she runs to his location in the spacious hall, he grabs hold of the knife and yanks it out, grunting with the pain and sensation of the metal leaving his thigh. As she pulls out a bandage to wrap around his wound, he rests himself against the pillar. Lara quickly dresses the wound as a temporary measure until they got proper medical attention back at the manor. "Are you OK to walk?" she asks. "Yeah I should be fine...ow" he replies, trying to limp off quickly. "Wait, let me help" Lara says as she brings his arm over her shoulder to help alleviate any unnecessary pressure being applied to the wound.

Quickly shuffling past the tents that housed the equipment, she quickly sets him down on a chair, looking around to see if anything of importance can be pulled. Grabbing all memory devices and random pieces of paper, she stuffs them all in her bag and picks Kurtis up again. Hurriedly making their way over to their rented transport, Lara jumps on hers starts it up. Kurtis on the other hand has no such luck. " I think my buggy's broken. It must've sustained damage when I landed from the dune." Noticing a hoard of guards as well as Bennett coming out from the entrance, they have no other choice but to share the same buggy. "Hop on" she says as Kurtis agonizingly sits himself on the back. Shots are fired in their direction as they drive off at speed.

"Sir we lost them" the head of the unit says to Bennett, who seems completely unphased by the events. "We will meet again soon. We each have a piece of the puzzle and will both be seeking the last piece. Ms Croft and I have unfinished business." 

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><p>Returning the transport to the rental shop, she sits him down on a bench and runs off to get a first aid kit. She places the kit down next to Kurtis and calls Zip to arrange the flight back. Zip calls her back five minutes later with positive results "He's on his way Lara. How did everything go?" "Everything went according to plan, well almost. My past decided to come back and haunt me and Kurtis is injured. I'm going to apply better first aid before we come back." "Alright, the plane should touch down in a couple of hours or so he says" Zip adds. "We'll speak to you when we get back. Take care." "You too Lara."<p>

Dampening a cloth with antiseptic liquid, she gently cleans the wound made by her unfortunate accident, Kurtis grimaces as she does so. Applying a clean bandage over the cloth, she ties up the bandage around his leg. "There, all done. We've got a couple of hours until the plane gets here, so I think it's best if we get some provisions. Can you move your leg at all?" she asks. "Just a bit, but it'll have to do" comes the reply from Kurtis.

Two hours later and they had boarded the plane, thankful that they were going home. Kurtis had taken to resting for part of the journey, leaving Lara awake and bored. Curious to see what she had managed to get her hands on, she withdrew the small item out of her bag and examined it. Noting all the familiar markings, she made a mental note to read through all the information they had on chain to see if there was anything pertaining to the marking on the newly acquired stone.


	17. Chapter 17

Hey all!

Firstly, I apologise for the lengthy absence. A lot of stuff has come up in the past 2 years - having gotten myself another job which involves me being available whenever during the day and a shift which takes up mostly all of my Sundays (aka writing days). From that point, I lost most of my concentration and focus when writing this story, setting myself back each time I had to go to work and being unable to release a new chapter.

After the most recent review of this story, I thought that I should try and get back into writing and releasing chapters a little more often to make up for the lack of them. I've looked over some of the chapters and will really need to correct some major grammar mistakes which really should have been obvious to me from the start, as I checked most of the chapters before release! I also want to review where this story is going and make sure that I get it moving in the right direction.

All I can say is just keep checking back over the chapters since I'll be revising most of them. Also, I'd really like to ask if there are any Beta readers out there that have any spare time and would be able to help me with this story, any help would be appreciated as it would help me to keep on track as well and keep those chapters coming!

Expect a new chapter by sometime next week =)


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